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Frontispiece— Ellis' England. 

Packenham Charges the French at Salamanca. 



YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY 

of 

ENGLAND 



m 



BY 

EDWARD S. ELLIS, A. M, 



With One Hundred and Sixty-four Illustrations 



PHILADELPHIA 
HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY 






THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Received 

AUG. 12 1901 

Copyright entry 

CLASS ^XXo. N«. 

COPY B. 





in uniform style 




by EDWARD S. 


EL.US, A.M. 


Young 


Peoples' History 


OF 


United States 
with 164 illustrations 


Young 


Peoples' History 


of 


England 

with 164 illustrations 


Young 


Peoples' History 


OF 


Germany 

with 115 illustrations 


Young 


Peoples' History 


OF 


France 

with 115 illust? atinns 


Young 


Peoples' History 


( F 


Greece 

with 70 illustrations 


Young 


Peoples' History 


OF 


Rome 

with So illustrations 




Price, y$ cents 


each 



Cppvright woi, by Henry A Item us 



INTRODUCTION. 



THE full history of England, teeming with mighty 
events and spanning twenty centuries, would re- 
quire volumes for its telling. The story is one of 
the most impressive in the annals of mankind, and of 
profound interest to all. But, glancing over the vast 
field, the eye rests upon towering landmarks, which mark 
the sweep of the British empire along the road of prog- 
ress, development, civilization, learning, conquest, discov- 
ery, science, art, literature and Christianity. 

It is our aim in the present volume to give a compre- 
hensive survey of the advancement of the horde of wild 
savages, conquered hy the Romans before the Christian 
era, to the present position as the foremost Christian 
Power of the Old World. No history can be more ab- 
sorbing and instructive to youths and adults, and we have 
endeavored so to present the leading facts in the building 
up of this stupendous empire that an intelligent idea can 
be formed of the history of England, and an interest 
aroused that will lead to a deeper and more extensive 

study of her history. 

(iii) 



IV 



Introduction. 



England and the United States have often been called 
cousins, though it might be said with greater truth that 
they are brothers. The Anglo-Saxon race is to become 
the dominant factor in the future development and prog- 
ress of the world, and it is the manifest will of Heaven 
that these invincible Powers shall clasp hands and march 
triumphantly forward, side by side, in their benefactions 
to the members of the whole human family, in all climes 
and under all conditions. 




CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 



From the Earliest Times to the Reign of Egbert. A. D. 802. 

The Early Britons— Their Customs — The Druids— Caesar's Invasion of 
Brittany— Its Conquest by the Romans— The Invasion by the Picts 
and Scots — Withdrawal of the Romans from Brittany, . , .13 



CHAPTER II. 
Danes and Saxons. 



802-1066. 



Good Conferred by the Roman Invasion— Introduction of Christianity — 
"The Groans of the Britons"— Vortigern— The Saxons— The Saxon 
Heptarchy— Egbert— Angle-Land or England— Alfred the Great— His 
Grand Work for England— Edward, Athelstone, Edmund, Edred, 
Ethelred, the Unready— His Horrible Crimes— Invasion of England 
by Sweyn, the Danish King— The Danish Invasion— Canute— Harold 
— Hardicanute— Edward the Confessor— A Strange Victory — Harold, 26 

CHAPTER III. 

Normans. 
1066-1154. 

William the Conqueror— William II. (1066-1100.) 

William Duke of Normandy — His Invasion and Conquest of England — 
Coronation vi William I., Better Known as William the Conqueror — 
A Revolt— Us Merciless Suppression by William — The Curfew Bell — 

(v) 



vi Contents. 



The Domesday Book — Robert, William and Henry, Sons of King 
William — Extravagance and Cruelty of King William — His Death — 
William the Red — His Wicked Character — Good Archbishop Anselm 
— Strange Death of King William— Henry I. — "The Lion of Jus- 
tice" — A Few Good Things Accomplished by Him — Return of Robert 
— His Departure, 47 



CHAPTER IV. 

Normans (Concluded). 
1066-1154. 

Henry I.— Stephen. (1100-1154.) 

Perfidy of Henry I. — Cruelty to his Brother Robert — Melancholy Death 
of Prince Edward — Death of Henry— Stephen— War Over the Claims 
of Matilda and Stephen — Brief Reign of Matilda — Wise Decision of 
a Dispute — Death of Stephen — The Great or National Council — The 
King's Council— Trial by Ordeal- Trial by Battle— Orders of Nobility 
in England and France — Land Tenures — The Feudal System — Cav- 
alry, Knights and Foot Soldiers — Ceremony of Knighting — Books — 
Ignorance of the Knights — Surnames — Fashions — Amusements — Cru- 
elties of the Barons, .......... 65 



CHAPTER V. 

Peantagenets. 
1154-1399. 

Henry II. (1154-1189.) 

Henry's Reforms — "Scutage" — Difficulties with the Clergy — Appoint- 
ment of Thomas Becket as Archoishop of Canterbury — Quarrel Be- 
tween him and the King — The "Constitutions of Clarendon" — 
Flight of Becket — Reconciliation Between Becket and the King— Re- 
newed Quarrel — Murder of Becket — Penance Done by the King — Con- 
quest of Ireland — The King's Rebellious Sons — His Death from a 
Broken Heart, 80 



Contents. vii 



chapter VI. 

Plant agenets (Continued). 
1154-1399. 

Richard I. the Lion-Hearted. (1189-1199.) 

The Crusades— Richard the Lion-Hearted — His Wonderful Prowess as a 
Warrior — His Exploits in Palestine— Knightly Saladin — Richard's 
Departure for Home — His Imprisonment in Germany — Romantic 
Story of his Discovery by his Favorite Page — Kansom of Richard— 
His Return to England— His Coronation, his War with France and 
his Death — The Good Resulting from the Crusades, .... 92 

CHAPTER VII. 

Plantagenets (Continued). 
1154-1399. 

John— Henry III.— Edward I. (1199-1307.) 

John's Despicable Character— Murder of Arthur— King John Driven Out 
of France and the Duchy of Normandy — England Put Under an In- 
terdict by the Pope— King John's Dethronement Declared by the 
Pope— His Submission—Revolt of the Barons— Signing of the Magna 
Charta by King John— His Perfidy— His Death from Gluttony- 
Crowning of Henry III.— His Worthless Character— His Power Taken 
from Him— Civil War— His Long: Reign and Death— Edward I. Be- 
comes King— First Prince of Wales— War with Scotland— Banish- 
ment of the Jews — Death of Edward I., 105 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Plantagenets (Concluded). 
1154-1399. 

Edward II.— Edward III.— Richard II. (1307-1399.) 

Worthless Character of Edward II.— Monarchical and Republican Forms 
of Government Compared— Lords Ordainers— Gaveston, the King's 
Favorite— Battle of Bannockburn— The Hundred Years' War— Its 



( 



viii Contents. 



PA0E 



Causes— Battle of Crecy— Edward the Black Prince— First Use of Gun- 
powder by the British— Capture of Calais— The Black Plague— Eng- 
lish Victory at Poictiers— Death of Edward the Black Prince — 
Richard II.— Revolt of the Peasants Under Wat Tyler— Government 
Taken from Richard— Chevy Chase— King Richard's Revenge— His 
Dethronement and Death— John Wickliffe and his Blessed Work, . 120 

CHAPTER IX. 

House of Lancaster. 
1399-1461. 

Henry IV. — Henry V. — Henry VI. 

Conspiracies in Every Quarter — Revolt of the Percy Family— Crushing of 
the Rebellion at Shrewsbury — Burning of Heretics — Death of Henry 
iy p — w ar of Henry V. Against France — Great English Victory at 
Agincourt — Death of Henry V. — Crowning of Henry VI. — His Weak 
Character — The Wonderful Story of Joan of Arc — English Driven 
Out of France — Marriage of Henry VI. to Margaret of Anjou — His 
Dominance in the Government of England — Unpopularity of the 
Queen — Execution of the Duke of Suffolk — Jack Cade's Rebellion—- 
The War of the Roses— Triumph of the House of York, . . . i35 

CHAPTER X. 

House of York. 
1461-1485. 

Edward IV. — Edward V. — Richard III. 

Battle of Towton — Edward IV.— Quarrel with the Earl of Warwick — 
Death of Henry— Misfortunes of Queen Margaret— Death of t'/va 
Prince — Introduction of Printing into England — Death of Edw&fot 
IV. — Edward V. Proclaimed King — Cruelty of Richard, Duke of 
Gloucester — Crowned as Richard III. of England — Murder of the Two 
Princes in the Tower of London — Henry Tudor — Battle of Bosworth 
Field — Death of Richard — Last of the Plantagenets and End of the 
War of the Roses — Most Important Events Between 1154 and 1485— 
Disappearance of Serfdom and Feudalism — Armor of the Period- 
Commerce and Trade — Improvement in the Modes of Living — Gro- 
tesque Fashions — First Era in English Literature, .... 149 



Contents. ix 



CHAPTER XL 



House of Tudor. 
1485-1603. 

Henry VII.— Henry VIII. —Edward VI. (1485-1553.) 

PAGE 

Character of Henry VII.— Two Pretenders to the English Throne— Exe- 
cution of Perkin Warbeck and the Earl of Warwick— Discovery ot 
America— Henrv VIII.— Battle of the Spurs— The Field of the Cloth 
of Gold -Luther's Reformation— The Pope Proclaims Henry De- 
fender of the Faith— Fall of Cardinal Wolsey— Trial of Queen Cath- 
erine—King Henrv Made Head of the Church in England— Ex- 
communicated by the Pope— Destruction of the Monasteries— King 
Henry's Many Marriages—" Act of Six Articles "—Death of Henry- 
Edward VI. — The Duke of Somerset— Persecution of the Catholics- 
Sufferings of the People— Lady Jane Grey, 165 

CHAPTER XII. 

House of Tudor (Concluded). 
1485-1603. 

Mary— Elizabeth. (1553-1603. ) 

Brief Reign of Lady Jane Grey— Queen Mary- England Formally 
Brought Back to the Roman Church— Disastrous War with* ranee— 
"Bloody Mary"— Queen Elizabeth— Her Difficult Task— England s 
Dangers— The Beginning of England's Maritime Career— Destruction 
of Spain's Invincible Armada-The Sad Story of Mary Queen of 
Scots— Elizabeth's Duplicity— Her Last Days— Glories of the ludor 
Period, 

CHAPTER XIII. 

House of Stuart. 
1603-1714. 

James I. -Charles I. (1603-1642.) 

Union of England and Scotland— " Divine Right of Kings"— The Three 
Religious Parties in the Kingdom— Preference of James— Execution 
of Sir Walter Raleigh— The Gunpowder Plot— Personal Appearance 



180 



Contents. 



of James I. — English Settlements in America — Translation of the 
Bible — Marriage of Prince Charles and Henrietta Maria of France- 
Death of King James — Two Fatal Blunders of Charles I. — Quarrel 
Between the King and Parliament — The Petition of Right — Assassina- 
tion of the Duke of Buckingham— King Charles's Illegal Methods of 
Raising Money — Revival of Monopolies— The Star Chamber — The 
Long Parliament — Insurrection in Ireland— The "Grand Remon- 
strance" — Royal Standard Raised by the King at Nottingham, . 195 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Interregnum — The Commonwealth. 

1642-1660. 

Oliver Cromwell — Cavaliers and Roundheads — Indecisive Battles — League 
of England with Scotland — Defeat of Royalists at Marston Moor — 
Bravery and Military Skill of Cromwell — Decisive Parliamentary 
Victory at Naseby — Surrender of King Charles to the Scots — Deliv- 
ered to Parliament and Held a Prisoner — "Colonel Pride's Purge" — 
Condemnation and Execution of Charles I. — Cromwell Crushes a 
Rebellion in Ireland and Routs the Scottish Army — Flight of Charles 
II. — England a Republic — Its Success and Prosperity — Parliament 
Dissolved by Cromwell — The " Barebones Parliament" — Cromwell 
made Lord Protector — The "Humble Petition and Advice" — Some 
of the Virginia Cavaliers — Character of Cromwell — Bigotry of the 
Puritans— Cromwell's Last Days and Death — Richard Cromwell — 
His Resignation as Lord Protector — The Convention Parliament — 
The Restoration, 209 

CHAPTER XV. 

House of Stuart (Concluded). 
1603-1714. 

Charles II. — James II. — William and Mary — William III. — Anne. 

(1660-1714.) 

Reaction from Puritanism — Execution of Cromwell's Judges — Extrava- 
gance of King Charles— Great Plague of London — Great Fire of 
London — Duplicity of the King — War Against Holland — William, 
Prince of Orange — "Whigs" and "Tories" — Habeas Corpus Act — 
Rye House Plot — Death of Charles and Accession of James II. — 
Duke of Monmouth's Rebellion — Unpopularity of James's Acts in 



Contents. 



Favor of Catholics— The Seven Bishops— Flight of James— Crowning 
of William, Prince of Orange, and Mary— Defeat of James at the 
Battle of the Bovne— Hopes of James Destroyed in 1692— Treaty of 
Ryswick— Death" of Mary— Death of William III. — Good Queen 
Anne— War of the Spanish Succession— The Duke of Marlborough— 
His Victorious Career and his Disgrace— Union of England and Scot- 
land—Adoption of a New Flag— Death of Queen Anne— The " Au- 
gustan Age of England"— First Daily Paper in England, . . .224 

CHAPTER XVI. 

House of Hanover. 

1714 . 

George F— George II. (1714-1760.) 

George I.— A Good-Natured Dolt— His Sensible Course— The Present 
Method of Government— The Old Pretender— Suppression of the 
Jacobite Outbreak— Extension of the Duration of Parliament— Intro- 
duction of Inoculation for the Cure of Smallpox— Dr. Jenner's Dis- 
coveries— " Every Man has his Price"— Death of George I.— George 
It. —Events in America— A War Caused by a Man's Ear -War of the 
Spanish Succession— American Colonies Involved— Defeat and Flight 
of the Young Pretender- Blight of Intemperance— Great Religious 
Revival— John and Charles Wesley and the Methodists, . . .241 

CHAPTER XVII. 

House of Hanover (Continued). 

1714 . 

George III. (1760-1820.) 

Character of King George III. -Struggle of England and France for Mas- 
tery in America— George Washington— Braddock's Massacre— Early 
French Successes— William Pitt— Great Change Wrought in American 
Affairs— Defeat of France and Spain— Terms of the Treaty of 1/63— 
The Stamp Act— Revolt of the American Colonies— The Revolution- 
Independence of the United States Acknowledged by Great Britain- 
Lord Gordon Riots in London -The French Revolution of 1,89— 
Napoleon Bonaparte— Nelson's Victory of the Nile— His Gallantry at 
Cape St. Vincent— Decisiv 3 English Naval Victory of Trafalgar- 
Peninsular War in Spain— Second War Between Great Britain and 



xii Contents. 



PAGE 

the United States — Peninsular War Continued — Waterloo — Death of 
George III.— His Last Days, 254 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

House op Hanover (Continued). 

1714 . 



George IV.— William IV. (1820-1837.) 

Infamous Character of George IV. — Interference of England, France 
and Russia in Favor of Greece against Turkey — Union of England 
and Ireland— Repeal of Unjust Acts by Parliament — Incongruous 
Representation — Parliamentary Reforms — Abolition of the African 
Slave Trade— Abolishment of Slavery in the British West Indies — 
Death of William IV.— His Successor, 272 

CHAPTER XIX. 

House of Hanover (Continued) 

1714 . 

Victoria. (1837-1901.) 

Victoria — Her Marriage to Prince Albert — War in Afghanistan — In the 
Punjaub — The Crimean War — Charge of the Six Hundred — Florence 
Nightingale — Sepoy Mutiny in India — England's Unjust Course in 
the American Civil War — Alabama Claims — War with China — With 
the Transvaal Republic — First British Steamboat — First British Lo- 
comotive — Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway — James 
Watt's Improvement of the Steam Engine — Spinning Jenny — Pottery 
Manufacture — Telegraph — Submarine Cables — Age of Electricity, . 278 

CHAPTER XX. 

House of Hanover (Concluded). 
1714 . 

Victoria. (1837-1901. Concluded.) 

The History of England a History of Progress— The Oppressive Corn 
Law — Its Repeal— The Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill — Its Un- 



Contents. 



xni 



just Provisions — Disestablishment Law — Sunday Schools — Further 
Reform Measures— Woman Suffrage — Removal of Political Restric- 
tions from Jews— Second Reform Bill — Third Reform Bill — Home 
Rule in Ireland — Establishment of a System of Public Schools — All 
Colleges and Universities Thrown Op m to Every Religious Faith — 
England a Great and Progressive Nation— This Truth Apparent in 
Every Department of Thought and Action — The Destinies of the 
World in the Hands of the United States and Great Britain, 



296 




2— Ellis' England. 



Great Seal of Henry VIII. 






ifrmmuitt w flUfatnmq'frflMW qihipiliebut jju <u fog i fd& tit 




Coronation of a King of England. 

From a miniature of the Fourteenth Century 

preserved at Cambridge. 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Pakenham Charges the French at Salamanca Frontispiece 

Ancient Britons 15 

British War Chariot 17 

A Druid School in the Woods 18 

Stonehenge 19 

Gathering the Mistletoe 20 

Invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar 21 

Caradoc in Rome 23 

Picts and Scots 27 

A Norseman 28 

Thor, the Saxon God 29 

Early Saxon Church 31 

A Danish Ship 31 

Ethelwulf's Ring 31 

"The first one . . . shall be the owner of this book" 33 

" You deserve to go hungry ". 35 

Alfred in Disguise in the Danish Camp 37 

Gold Jewel of Alfred the Great 38 

Alfred at His Studies 39 

"This mighty force was resistless" 41 

" The sea kept edging nearer " 43 

Harold's Oath 45 

Norman and Saxon Arms 46 

The Landing of William of Normandy 48 

(xv) 



xvi Illustrations. 

PAGE 

At Stamford Bridge 49 

Death of Harold 50 

Finding Harold's Body 51 

Coronation of William the Conqueror 52 

Fac-simile of Part of Domesday Book 54 

Matilda, Wife of William the Conqueror 55 

Robert Unhorsed His Father 57 

The Death of William the Conqueror 59 

Building a Church, a. d. 1066 60 

The Death of William II 63 

Great Seal of William the Conqueror 64 

Statues of Henry I. and Queen Matilda 67 

Part of the Choir of Canterbury Cathedral 69 

Norman House at Lincoln 71 

"The Noblemen Battled on Horseback" 73 

A Norman Hawking Party 76 

"Put into a Dungeon and Tortured" 77 

Mitre of Becket 83 

" The Archbishop lay dead" 89 

King Richard I. at Acre 97 

Effigies of Richard I. and Queen Berengaria 99 

Blondel Seeking Richard 101 

"I forgive thee: take off his chains" 104 

Prince Arthur Pleading with Hubert de Bourg 107 

King John Dethroned by Order of the Pope Ill 

Effigies of King John and His Wife Isabella 112 

Paragraph from Magna Charta 113 

Effigy of King Henry III 115 

Seal of Robert Fitzwalter 116 

Great Seal of Edward 1 117 



Illustrations. xvii 

PAGE 

Parliament of Edward 1 118 

Robert Bruce 119 

Bruce' s Army Before the Battle of Bannockburn 122 

Effigy of Edward II 123 

Edward III. Crossing the Somme 125 

Royal Arms of Edward III 126 

Ploughing, 1348 .. 126 

Harrowing, 1348 127 

Reaping, 1348 127 

Effigies of Edward III. and Queen Philippa 129 

Interior of the Hall at Penshurst 131 

Carrying Corn, 1381 132 

State Carriage, 1381 132 

Richard II. Resigns the Crown to Bolingbroke 133 

John Wickliffe 134 

Henry of Lancaster Claiming the Throne 136 

Effigies of Henry IV. and Joan of Navarre 137 

" While tending her father's flocks" 143 

"Tied to the stake in the market place" 145 

The Tower of London 147 

The Battle of Shrewsbury 148 

The Death of the Eari of Warwick 151 

Queen Margaret and the Robber 153 

Effigy of the Earl of Warwick 154 

Large Ship and Boat, 1485 155 

Edward V. and Elizabeth Woodville 157 

Prince Edward and His Brother 158 

Murder of the Princes in the Tower 159 

Lady Catherine Gordon 167 

King Henry VIII 169 



xvu: 



Illustrations. 



PAGE 

Embarkation of Henry VIII. from Dover 170 

Arrival of Henry VIII. at Calais 171 

Hampton Court 173 

Sir Thomas More Bids Farewell to His Daughter 177 

Part of Siege of Boulogne 178 

Edward VI. Signing His First Death Warrant 179 

Lady Jane Grey in the Tower 181 

Mary Tudor 183 

Queen Elizabeth 185 

Sir Francis Drake 187 

Destruction of the Armada 189 

Murder of Rizzio 191 

Mary Stuart Receives Her Death Warrant 193 

William Shakespeare 194 

Royal Arms of James 1 196 

The Conspirators' Last Stand 199 

King Charles 1 203 

Assassination of the Duke of Buckingham 205 

The Earl of Strafford Led to Execution 207 

Civil Costumes, Time of Charles 1 210 

Charge of Cromwell's Horsemen 211 

" Colonel Pride's Purge" 213 

Execution of King Charles 1 215 

Admiral Blake Defeats the Dutch Fleet 217 

"His favorite daughter warned him" 219 

Oliver Cromwell 221 

A Coach of the Seventeenth Century 222 

General Monk 223 



Illustrations. 



xix 



PAGE 

Nobleman and Squire 224 

Yeoman of the Guard 225 

Dress of the Horse Guards 225 

Midnight Carousal at the Court 227 

The Great Fire in London 228 

King Charles II 229 

Titus Oates in the Pillory 230 

Dress of Gentlemen, 1675 231 

Dress of Women, Time of James II 232 

The Duke of Monmouth 233 

Costume of a Gentleman, Time of James II 234 

William of Orange Hears the News 235 

King James II. at the Battle of the Boyne 237 

Queen Anne 238 

The Duke of Marlborough as an Ensign 239 

Milton Dictating "Paradise Lost" 240 

King George 1 242 

Coach of the Eighteenth Century , 243 

Mowing Grass, Eighteenth Century 245 

The House of Commons, 1741-42 247 

King George II 249 

Proclamation of the Young Pretender 251 

Election Scene: the Poll 252 

John Wesley 253 

Braddock's Force Ambushed 256 

William Pitt 257 

King George III 259 

Signing the Declaration of Independence 261 

John Adams 264 



XX 



Illustrations. 



PAGE 

Nelson at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent 265 

Nelson on the Deck of the "Victory" 267 

The 43d Attacked in Vimeira 269 

King George IV 275 

King William IV 276 

William Wilberforce 277 

Queen Victoria at the Time of Her Accession 279 

Charge of the Light Brigade 283 

Florence Nightingale 284 

Execution of Mutinous Sepoys 287 

"Oom Paul" Kruger 289 

Lord Roberts 290 

Storming a Boer Position in the Transvaal 291 

Watt Discovering the Power of Steam 293 

Rich ard Ark wright 295 

Houses of Parliament, London 297 

Benjamin Disraeli 300 

William E. Gladstone 301 

Queen Victoria 307 



ALTEMUS' YOUNG PEOPLE'S 

HISTORY OF ENGLAND 



CHAPTER I. 

from the earliest times to the reign of egbert, 

a.d. 802. 

LET us turn our minds back through the long, dim 
centuries to a time before the birth of our Saviour 
in the manger at Bethlehem. No one had then 
heard of the present mighty empire of Great Britain, for 
it did not exist. Of course the islands of England and 
Scotland and of Ireland stood just as they stand to-day, 
but they were inhabited by a fierce people, who knew 
nothing of the ways of civilization, and who lived little 
better than the wild beasts of the forest. It isn't worth 
while to try to find out where they first came from, for it 
would all be guesswork. Let us begin the history of 
England with what is known to be the truth. 

(13) 



14 Young People's History of England. 

The whole country was covered with swamps and 
woods, and the climate was foggy and cold. There was 
none of the present fine highways, no bridges, and no 
dwellings worthy of being called houses. The people 
lived in straw-covered huts, generally hidden in a thick 
wood, surrounded by a ditch of water and a wall made 
of fallen trees, upon which mud was piled. Far in the 
depths of the forests you would find such collections of 
huts, and I suppose some of them might be called native 
towns. 

Although good crops could have been raised, the 
ancient Britons were like the wild American Indians, 
who did not care to earn their food by digging the ground, 
but preferred to fish and hunt. They had many flocks 
and cattle, and therefore, when they wished a meal of 
flesh, it was easy to get it. For money, they used metal 
rings, and some of their basket-work was pretty and in- 
genious. They knew how to make a certain kind of 
rough cloth, which served for their scant clothing. Since 
the island was surrounded by water, they had a good 
many small boats, but they were so frail that their owners 
never went to sea in stormy weather, nor dared to go far 
from land, even when the water was smooth, for it might 
become boisterous before they could get back to shore. 

Now you will always find in reading about such people 
that they were great fighters. The most natural thing 
for a savage to do is to try to kill or injure others, and I 
am afraid that this evil disposition still dwells among 
those who call themselves civilized. 

The ancient Britons lived in a country, some portions 



From Earliest Times to the Reign of Egbert. 



15 



of which have long been famous for their tin, and they 
made swords 
from a mix- 
ture of tin 
and copper ; 
but such ma- 
terial is poor, 
and the weap- 
ons were often 
no better than 
so many 
clubs. They 
had shields 
with which 
to ward off 
the blows of 
a n e n e m y, 
and their 
spears were 
held by long 
strings of 
1 e a t h e r, s o 
that after 
hurling one 
of them it 
could be 
jerked back, 

unless the enemy seized it before the owner got it away. 
The principle was something like that of the toy known 
as the return-ball, with which you are familiar. In the 




Ancient Britons. 



16 Young People's History of England. 

butt end of the spear was a hollow ball, with bits of 
metal inside. The purpose of this rattle was to scare the 
horses of their foes. 

I must tell you some other interesting facts about those 
early Britons. As I have said, they wore scant cloth- 
ing, but they were fond of tattooing their bodies, as is the 
fashion to-day among many of the South Sea Islanders. 
Then they painted themselves with the juice of a plant 
called the woad, whose color was blue. Picture to your- 
self one of those powerful fellows, with his black bushy 
hair, his blue tattooed body, his bearded face and fero- 
cious black eyes, with spear and shield, and glaring like 
a tiger, and you will agree that there was very little that 
was attractive in his looks. 

The people who lived along the coast were perhaps 
more civilized than those inland. They wore trousers 
and tunics of thick cloth, generally of a red color, which 
was their favorite. In looking at them, you would be 
reminded of the tartan-plaid of the Highlanders. Over 
these garments they had chains and collars and bracelets 
and rings, made of brass, silver and gold, which proved 
that they knew something of manufactures. 

One important truth the islanders failed to learn : that 
is, in union there is strength. There were thirty or forty 
tribes ; but instead of uniting to keep out all invaders, as 
they might easily have done, they were forever fighting 
one another. Their most terrible instrument of war was 
the armed chariot. You have all seen an ordinary 
chariot, almost breast-high in front and open at the rear. 
One of these would contain two or three or four warriors, 



From Earliest Times to the Reign of Egbert. 17 




^aefeB ^^^SX*; 



lL«S«Ktri*2F 



British War Chariot. 



including the driver, who gave all his attention to the 
horses. To each axle of the two wheels was firmly fixed 
an outreaching sword in 
the shape of a scythe. 
Then the horses would 
be driven at headlong 
speed right among the 
enemy, who were cut and 
torn in the most dread- 
ful manner by the fright- 
ful weapons. The ani- 
mals were so well trained 
that the driver had but 
to utter a single word to make them stop on the in- 
stant. 

No matter how degraded a nation may be, it possesses 
some form of religion. That of the ancient Britons was 
Druidism, which called for the worship of the sun, the 
moon, the serpent, and some of the Greek and Roman 
divinities. The priests were called Druids, and they not 
only instructed in religion, but were judges of the people 
and instructors of the youths. 

The Druids worshipped in groves of oak, watered by 
running streams, which were looked upon as sacred. 
Within these groves was piled a circle of large upright 
stones, in the middle of which was the cromlech or altar, 
which consisted of a broad flat stone laid horizontally 
upon others. You will find to-day, in different parts of 
Great Britain, these relics of Druidism. The most re- 
markable are those at Stonehenge, in Wiltshire, and the 



18 



Young People's History of England. 



singular cromlech near Aylesford, in Kent, known as 
Kits Coty House. 

The religion of the Druids was very cruel. Human 




A Druid School in the Woods. 



beings were sometimes offered up as sacrifices, and we are 
compelled to believe that in more than one instance men 
and animals were burned together in the offerings to this 
hideous religion. 



From Earliest Times to the Reign of Egbert. 19 

One peculiar faith was that God loved the oak more 
than any other tree, and whatever grew upon it came from 




-«=- t^^^i^ $^{£&*E 



Stonehenge. 

heaven. The mistletoe plant especially was looked 
upon as sacred whenever its white berries were found 
clustering about the massive branches of the oak. 

The Druidical New Year's day was on the sixth day 
of the moon nearest the 10th of March, and there was 
great pomp and ceremony in gathering the mistletoe. 
They had three other important holidays, — May-Day, 
Midsummer Eve, and the last day of October. Now, did 
you ever think when celebrating All-hallow E'en, as you 
are so fond of doing, not to mention the other festivals, 
that the custom has come down from the old Druids 
through two thousand years ? Such is the fact. 



20 



Young People's History of England. 



From what I have told you, a fair idea may be gathered 
of the Britons about a half century before the birth of our 
Saviour. At that time, as you will learn in our history 
of Rome, the Romans were a mighty nation, who seemed 

destined to conquer the 
whole world. Julius Caesar, 
one of their greatest gener- 
als, had subdued the Gauls, 
as the people were called 
who lived in France. Such 
ambition as his feeds upon 
itself; and, standing upon 
the southern shore of the 
English channel, in the 
year 55 B.C., and looking 
across the narrow straits to 
the white cliffs of Dover, 
he determined to add the 
island of Britain to his 
many conquests. 

In the fable of the wolf 
and lamb, vou remember 




Gathering the Mistletoe. 



you 



that the wolf offered the silliest of excuses to justify him 
in killing his innocent victim, which had no thought of 
harming or offending him. So Caesar made the pretext 
that the Britons had helped the Gauls to fight against 
him. Now, that was untrue, and he knew it, but, all 
the same, he set out to conquer the island, for he saw that, 
if he succeeded in doing so, it would add to the glory of 
Rome and become a source of revenue, for all people 



From Earliest Times to the Reign of Egbert. 21 

conquered by the Romans had to pay them heavy taxes. 
He sailed over to the island with a fleet of eighty vessels 
and 12,000 men. The bold Britons discovered this pow- 
erful force approaching, and gathered on the cliffs, with 
their weapons of war, and waited for their enemies to 
come within reach. Caesar saw that he had a hard task 




Invasion of Britain by Julius Csosar. 

before him, and instead of landing in the face of the 
savages, where the coast was steep and rocky, he hunted 
for a place that was not so steep. 

Reading his purpose, the Britons dashed thither with 
their war chariots, and the Roman fleet passed on to Deal, 

3— Ellis' England. 



22 Young People's History of England. 

where, after a furious fight, they succeeded in landing ; 
but Caesar's troops were handled so roughly that he 
granted the peace asked for, and gave the Britons easy 
terms. Winter approaching, the Romans sailed back to 
Ganl, and, now that they were gone, the natives resolved 
to keep them out. 

Back again came Caesar the following spring, with 800 
vessels and 30,000 men. By that time the islanders had 
learned that their only hope lay in uniting their forces. 
They did this, and made Caswallon, a brave chief, their 
leader. The fighting that followed was long and desper- 
ate, but the Roman legions prevailed, and when Caswal- 
lon asked for peace Caesar granted it as willingly as 
before. Then he sailed away with his soldiers and never 
returned. 

Now followed nearly a hundred years of peace, so far 
as foreign enemies were concerned, but I am sorry to say 
the Britons had no better sense than to be continually at 
war with one another. Still they improved their ways 
of life. They built better houses, and some of them 
visited the Gauls and Bomans and came back witli a 
knowledge that was used for the benefit of their country- 
men. 

In the year 43 the Roman emperor sent one of his 
best generals, Aulus Plautius, with a prodigious force, to 
conquer the island, and soon afterward the emperor him- 
self went thither. The long and terrible fighting resulted 
in the conquest of only a small strip of territory, which was 
overrun again by the Britons so soon as the Romans 
withdrew. The Britons united under their splendid 




Caradoc in Koine Before the Emperor Claudius. 

Before his last battle with the Roman legions Caradoc thus addressed his 
army : " This day decides the fate of Britain. Your liberty or your 
eternal slavery dates from this hour." 

23 



24 Young People's History of England. 

leader, Caradoc, or Caractacus, who fought a terrific battle 
with the invaders among the mountains of North Wales; 
but the discipline and greater numbers of the Romans 
gave them the victory. The brothers of Caradoc surren- 
dered, his wife and daughters were made prisoners, and he 
himself was betrayed into the hands of the Romans and 
taken in chains to the imperial city. His noble charac- 
ter shone forth when he stood before Claudius' judgment- 
seat and rebuked the wicked ambition of his conquerors. 
"Why," said he, looking at the splendor of his surround- 
ings, "should you envy me my humble home in 
Britain?" 

The emperor was touched by the calm dignity of 
Caradoc, and ordered the chains to be stricken from him 
and his wife and children. Let us hope that they were 
restored to their homes, though history is silent on that 
point. 

It looked as if the Britons could never be subdued. 
The fighting went on year after year, but finally the 
Romans conquered, though the triumph cost them many 
thousands of lives. Agricola commanded in Britain from 
a.d. 78 to a.d. 84. He taught the arts of civilization to 
the people, persuaded them to abandon their rude huts 
and build comfortable houses, and the language of Rome 
was taught to the youths. Agricola carried the victori- 
ous Roman eagles to the foot of the Grampian hills, 
where he met the Caledonians, who, though defeated again 
and again, were never conquered. Almost all the south- 
ern part of Britain submitted, but the Caledonians kept 
up a continual attack upon the chain of forts and intrench- 



From Earliest Times to the Reign of Egbert. 25 

ments which Agricola had built across the northern part 
of the country from the river Clyde to the Frith of Forth. 
Scotland was repeatedly invaded by the best Roman gen- 
erals, and finally, when the conquest of the people was 
clearly impossible, the Emperor Severus built a powerful 
stone wall, stretching from the Solway to the Tyne, with 
castles and turrets close to one another and garrisoned 
with soldiers. This rampart served to keep back the 
barbarians, and for nearly seventy years comparative 
peace reigned. The son of Severus yielded up a large 
tract of land to the Caledonians, and gave to the Britons 
the same privileges enjoyed by the Romans. 

War and devastation came with the fourth century, 
when the Picts, a tribe of Caledonians, and the Scots, who 
had come from Ireland, swarmed over the wall of Severus 
and laid waste the country, pushing even into the south- 
ern provinces of Britain. The Romans drove them back 
for a time ; but their empire was fast declining, and she 
was so pressed by enemies at home that in a.d. 420, al- 
most five hundred years after the first landing of Caesar, 
every Roman soldier was withdrawn from Britain. 



CHAPTEK II. 

DANES AND SAXONS 802-1066. 

YOU must not form the idea that the long Roman oc- 
cupation of Britain was an unmixed evil. On the 
contrary, it did a vast deal of good in the way of 
civilizing the people and improving their condition. 
The Romans built such fine, broad, paved highways that 
the remains of many of them exist to-day. Towns were 
formed and the mud huts gave place to dwellings of brick 
and stone. The ground was widely tilled and grain be- 
came an important article of export. The Britons learned 
to dress and arm themselves better, and indeed their whole 
manner of life was toned up. 

More important than all these was the introduction of 
the Christian religion into the island. There is reason to 
believe that St. Paul himself made a visit to Britain. 
When the heathen emperors persecuted Christianity, the 
British Christians suffered, the first martyr to the faith 
being St. Alban, who was put to death in a.d. 286, during 
the ferocious persecution by the Emperor Diocletian. 
Twenty-five years later, three British bishops were sent 
as delegates to a Christian council in Gaul, which is proof 
that Christianity was well established in Britain at that 
time. 

The abandonment of Britain by the Romans brought 

(26) 



Danes and Saxons. 



27 




Pk-ts and Scots. 



evil days to the people. 
As I have stated, the 
Picts and Scots broke 
over the wall of Severus, 
or, sailing round it in 
their boats, caused so 
much woe and de- 
vastation that the 
poor Britons lost 
all heart. In the 
depth of their de- 
spair they sent a 
letter to Rome 
which they called 
" The Groans of 
the Britons/' In 
it they said, " The 
barbarians chase 
us into the sea; 
the sea throws us 
back upon the 
barbarians ; and 
we have only the 
hard choice left 
us of perishing 
by the sword or 
by the waves." 
Rome would have 
been glad to send 
the relief so sorely 



28 



Young People's History of England. 




A Norseman. 



needed, but 
her enemies 
were then 
thundering 
at her own 
gates, and 
she could do 
nothing to 
help the 
stric ken 
Britons. 

When all 
hope seemed 
to have de- 
parted, Vor- 
t i g e r n , a 
British 
prince, as a 
last resort, 
determined 
to make 
peace with 
the Saxons 
and invite 
them to come 
into their 
country and 
help them 
to keep out 
the pestilent 



Danes and Saxons. 



29 



Picts and Scots. Hengist and Horsa, the two most power- 
ful Saxon chiefs, accepted the proposal, and the Picts and 
Scots were driven out of Britain. 

Now, who were 
the Saxons? They rr^t^^^^^^W 
consisted at first of g| r|r>. 

three tribes, — the 
Jutes, the Angles 
and the Saxons, — 
who descended from 
the Scandinavian 
pirates, which for 
centuries sailed on 
their plundering ex- 
peditions from the 
shores of the Baltic 
and North Seas, and 
have been known as 
Saxons, Danes, and 
Northmen, Norse- 
men or Normans. 
Most of the Jutes, 
Angles and Saxons 
were from Denmark 
and the country to 
the west and south of 
that peninsula. They were a savage people, who claimed 
descent from Odin, the terrible war king, whom they wor- 
shipped as a god. Odin, also known as Woden, gave us 
the name Wednes or Woden's day 




Tbor, the Saxon God. 



Thor, the Saxon god 



30 Young People's History of England. 

of tempests, gave us Thor's or Thursday, and Friga, the 
wife of Odin, provided us with Friday. 

These turbulent warriors, after dispersing the Picts 
and Scots, turned upon the Britons, who had a sorry time 
of it. The wars lasted for two hundred years, by which 
time the Britons were driven into other countries or had 
found shelter in the dismal wilds of Cornwall or the 
mountains of Wales. At the end of the period named 
the Saxons had founded in Britain seven states called the 
Saxon Heptarchy: 1. Kent; 2. Sussex, the kingdom of 
the South Saxons; 3. Wessex, the kingdom of the West 
Saxons; 4. Essex, the kingdom of the East Saxons; 5. 
East Anglia, North- folk and South-folk, still preserved as 
the names of two English shires; 6. Northumbria, the 
country of the people north of the Humber ; 7, Mercia, 
the woodland kingdom. 

The most famous of these kingdoms is Kent, because 
the Christian religion was there preached to the Saxons 
by a monk from Rome, named Augustine. King Ethel- 
bert of Kent was one of the first converts, and his cour- 
tiers and nearly all his subjects followed his example. 
Other states of the Heptarchy did the same ; and about 
the year a.d. 604 Sebert, once the pagan King of Essex, 
built a small Christian church in London, on the spot 
where had stood a temple of Diana, and where now rises 
the magnificent Cathedral Church of St. Paul's. 

A noteworthy event took place in a.d. 825, when all 
the states of the Heptarchy were united under Egbert, 
who was made King of Wessex in 802, and thenceforward 
were known as Ansle-land or En id and. 



Danes and Saxons. 



31 




*s*s 



Early Saxon Church. 



Hardly had this union taken place when Britain was 

invaded by the Danes, who were bold, strong and fierce. 

These Northmen, as they were also 

called, came over in their ships, and, 

landing at different points, plun- 
dered and committed all manner of 

cruelties. They returned again and 

again, during the four short reigns 

of Egbert of Ethelwulf and his 

three sons, Ethelbald, Ethelbert, and 

Ethelred. 

And now, when the condition of the Britons looked 

utterly hopeless, their de- 
liverance came through 
the best and wisest king 
England ever had, and 
one of the greatest men 
whose names are record- 
ed on the pages of his- 
tory. 

Alfred 




Ship. 



voungest of the four sons of King Ethelwulf, 



was 



and when only eight years old was taken by 
his father on a pilgrimage to Rome. Al- 
though the imperial city had lost much of its 
splendor, yet its grandeur deeply impressed 
the child, for it was in wonderful contrast to 
the barbaric rudeness of his own land. He vis- 
ited Rome again, but when twelve years old did 
not know the letters of the alphabet. One day his mother 




32 Young People's History of England. 

was reading from a book of Saxon poetry, while her sons 
listened with rapt attention. You need not be reminded 
that the art of printing was not known until many hundred 
years afterward. The work was beautifully written, with 
" illuminated " or richly ornamented letters, and was 
worth a large sum of money. While the boys were ad- 
miring it, the mother said : " The first one of you four 
who learns to read shall be the owner of this book." 

Alfred hurried out of the house, found a tutor, and 
studied so hard that he won the volume, which he highly 
prized to the end of his life. He was three-and-twenty 
when he became King of England, in the year a.d. 871, 
through the deaths of his three brothers in succession. 

It is a pleasure to dwell upon the history of such a 
noble man as Alfred the Great, for there is no danger of 
saying too much in his praise. Let me quote the words 
of that fine historian, Freeman : 

" Alfred is the most perfect character in history. He 
is a singular instance of a prince who has become a hero 
of romance, who, as such, has had countless imaginary 
exploits attributed to him, but to whose character romance 
has done no more than justice, and who appears in exactly 
the same light in history and in fable. No other man on 
record has ever so thoroughly united all the virtues both of 
the ruler and of the private man. In no other man on 
record were so many virtues disfigured by so little alloy. 
A saint without superstition, a scholar without ostentation, 
a warrior all of whose wars were fought in the defense of 
his country, a conqueror whose laurels were never stained 
by cruelty, a prince never cast down by adversity, never 



Danes and Saxons. 



33 



lifted up to insolence in the day of triumph, there is no 
other name in history to compare with his." 

During the first year of his reign, Alfred fought nine 
battles with the Danes. Besides, he made a number of 
treaties with them, to which they swore in the most 




" The first one . . . shall be the owner of this book." 



solemn manner. Then they turned about and delib- 
erately violated every pledge and did not blush with 
shame. 

It began to look as if the fierce ruffians would overrun 
England and wipe out every atom of independence among 
the Britons. Few men could have kept heart under 



34 Young People's History of England. 

such anguish, but Alfred never despaired. In the fourth 
winter of his reign all his soldiers were scattered and he 
was left alone. The invaders were eager to get hold of 
him, for they knew he would never yield except with his 
life in the struggle for the liberty of his beloved people. 
But the king was as cunning as he was wise, and, dis- 
guising himself as a common peasant, he took refuge in 
the hut of one of the cowherds, who did not dream of 
his identity. 

One day the cowherd's wife ordered Alfred to watch 
some oaten bread which she was baking on the hearth. 
The king promised to see that the loaves were not allowed 
to scorch, but he was so depressed over the afflictions of 
his country that he forgot his duty, and when the wife 
came back the loaves were badly burned. 

The king was roused from his melancholy reverie by 
the sharp tongue of the indignant housewife. 

"You idle dog! You are ready enough to eat of my 
bread, but are too lazy to prevent its being spoiled. You 
deserve to go hungry." 

I have often wondered whether the good housewife 
ever learned who the man was whom she thus scolded, 
and who did not make any angry reply, for no doubt 
Alfred felt that he deserved the reproof and took it good- 
naturedly. 

It was all-important that the king should learn the 
strength of the Danes, their discipline, their plans, and 
their chances of success. How do you suppose he set to 
work to gain this knowledge? He was a fine musician, 
and disguising himself as a minstrel or gleeman, he en- 



Danes and Saxons. 



35 



tered the Danish camp with his harp. Those roystering 
fellows were glad to see him, and they danced and 




You deserve to go hungry. 



caroused while he entertained them with song and story, 
ittle dreaming how soon he would compel them to dance 



36 Young People's History of England. 

to another tune. You may be sure he kept his eyes and 
ears open, and when he sauntered out of camp he took 
with him all the information he had sought. 

Alfred gathered his faithful followers in Selwood 
Forest, and when they attacked the Danes, on the banks 
of the Avon, the invaders were beaten so decisively that 
they asked for peace. Almost any other leader would 
have refused quarter to such a foe ; but Alfred was as 
merciful as brave, and he promised the Danish king, 
Gu thrum, that he should have peace if he would embrace 
Christianity, and he and his followers become good sub- 
jects. Guthrum accepted the terms, and at his baptism 
Alfred was his godfather. Guthrum proved himself an 
honorable chief, for to his death he was loyal and faithful 
to the king, and, of course, all the Danes under him were 
also faithful and loyal. That large portion of England 
which they had overrun was granted to them, and was 
called Danelagh, which means the country under the law 
of the Dane. 

A period of peace now followed, and King Alfred gave 
all his energy to the betterment of his people; but at the 
end of twelve years Guthrum died, and more Danes in- 
vaded the country on plundering expeditions. Among 
them was a terrible pirate named Hastings, who came 
over with a fleet of two hundred and fifty vessels, and 
throughout a period of three years spread devastation 
and suffering on every hand; but Alfred encouraged his 
people to build ships, and he set them the example of 
fighting bravely, with the result that the Danes were 
driven off, and rest and peace again came to England. 




King Alfred in Disguise in the Danish Camp. 

In his character of a strolling musician, Alfred was invited to the tent of 
Guthrum, the Danish kino;, who gave him a friendly reception. In 
after years a solid friendship grew up between the two men as allied 
sovereigns. 



4— Ellis' England, 



37 



38 



Young People's History of England. 



tm 



King Alfred had but four years of life left to him, and 
he suffered from a painful disease which none of his phy- 
sicians could cure, but he never allowed himself an idle 
hour except when compelled to sleep. He gave eight 
hours to affairs of state, eight to study and devotion, and 
eight to sleep, exercise and refreshment. Clocks, and 
watches being unknown, he had wax candles notched, 

so that he carried out this 
plan with almost as much 
exactness as he could have 
done with a modern time- 
piece. Finding that the wind 
was likely to hasten the burn- 
ing of the candles at times, 
he provided them with a pro- 
tection of translucent horn. 
These were the first lanthorns 
made in England. 

King Alfred established 
schools, and did all he could 
for the instruction of the peo- 
the founder of the University 




Alfred the Great 

regarded 



as 



Gold jewel oi 

pie. He is 

of Oxford. He greatly iirrproved the language. Nearly 
all the books were written in Latin, which only a few 
could read. He ordered "all good and useful books" to 
be translated into English, and he himself translated 
the Book of Psalms and other portions of the Bible. 
He died in a.d. 901, at the age of fifty-three years. 

King Alfred was succeeded by Edward, his son, 
and by his grandsons, Athelstane, Edmund and Ed- 



Danes and Saxons. 



39 



red, all of whom proved good rulers. Athelstane was 

the first Saxon sovereign who took the title of King of 

England. The Danes, who had settled there, looked upon 

him as their 

ruler ; the Welsh 

regarded him as 

their "overlord," 

and he subdued 

the Scottish tribes 

as far north as 

the river Forth. 

Peace for 
some forty years 
f o 1 1 o w e d the 
death of Athel- 
stane, who was 
succeeded by five 
kings, all de- 
scendantsofKing 
Alfred, and who 
reigned in turn 
each for a short 
time. Ethelred 

Came to the Alfred at his studies. 

throne in a.d. 978, on the murder of his elder step- 
brother, Edward, surnamed the Martyr. This dreadful 
crime was committed by Elfrida, the mother of Ethelred, 
and caused universal horror throughout the land. 

Dunston, archbishop of Canterbury, Avho had exerted 
a very powerful influence during the reigns of the two 




40 Young People's History of England. 

predecessors of Ethelred, opposed the accession of the 
latter, but was obliged to consent, and he gave him the 
nickname of "the Unready." 

This unworthy ruler proved the justice of the con- 
tempt in which he was held by many when, three years 
after his accession to the throne, the Danes again invaded 
his country, and he persuaded them to leave by giving 
them bribes of silver and gold. This infamy was repeated 
until the king was impoverished, when he tried another 
means of ridding his country of the invaders. He mar- 
ried Emma, " the Flower of Normandy," sister of Rich- 
ard, duke of the Normans, hoping thereby to gain the 
aid of the Normans in driving out the Danes. 

In this Ethelred was disappointed, and he now re- 
sorted to an awful crime. He issued secret orders that 
on the 13th of November, 1002, known as the Festival of 
St. Brice, all the Danes in the country should be put to 
death. This horrible command was carried out, the sister 
of Sweyn, the Danish king, being among the victims. 

When the news reached Sweyn, he swore to inflict a 
terrible punishment. He gathered a larger fleet than be- 
fore, and all his naturally fierce followers were eager to 
avenge their murdered countrymen. Let me quote from 
an account : 

" These choice warriors embarked in lofty ships, every 
one of which bore the ensign of its separate commander. 
Some carried at their prow such figures as lions, bulls, 
dolphins, dragons, or armed men of metal, gayly gilded ; 
others carried on their topmast head the figures of large 
birds, as eagles and ravens, that stretched out their wings 




This rnigbty force was resistless." 



(41) 



42 Young People's History of England. 

and turned with the wind ; the sides of the ship were 
paifited with different bright colors, and from stem to 
stern' shields of burnished steel were suspended in even 
line and glittered in the sun. Gold, silver and embroid- 
ered banners were displayed, and the whole wealth of the 
pirates of the Baltic lent its aid to this barbaric pomp. 
The ship that bore the royal standard of Sweyn was 
moulded in the form of an enormous serpent, the sharp 
head of which formed the prow, while the lengthening 
tail coiled over the poop. It was called ' The Great 
Dragon.'" 

This mighty force was resistless. It carried everything 
before it, and Ethel red was driven to take refuge beyond 
the seas with his Norman brother-in-law. At the end of 
ten years Sweyn, King of Denmark, became King of Eng- 
land too. He died before his coronation, and the Danes 
proclaimed Canute, his son, king. Edmund, surnamed 
Ironside, a son of Ethel reel, upheld the Saxon cause, and 
after some fighting the kingdom was divided between the 
two rulers. Edmund Ironside shortly after died, and 
Canute, the Dane, became full King of England. 

Canute took cruel means to secure himself on his 
throne. He caused many of the English to be killed. 
He sent the young sons of Edmund Ironside to Sweden, 
expecting that the king of that country would cause them 
to be put to death, but instead of doing so, he gave 
them safe journey to Hungary, where they were 
kindly treated. Besides these heirs, there were two 
sons of Ethelred at the court of his Norman 
brother-in-law. Canute would have been glad to 



Danes and Saxons. 



43 



slay them, but, because that was beyond his power, he 
made a treaty with their uncle, Duke Richard, and pro- 
posed to make their mother a second time Queen of Eng- 
land. She was 
Emma, as you 
will remem- 
ber, the beau- 
tiful "Flower 
of Norman- 
dy," who was 
base enough 
to forget her 
duty to her 
children and 
to become the 
wife of the 
ferocious Dan- 
ish king, who 
was the deadly 
enemy of her 
sons, as he had 
been of Ethel- 
r e d their ^g§§ 
father. iRH^ 

Having gj^y 
disposed of all ^^"^ 
possible rivals, 

Canute now became milder and strove to win the good-will 
of his subjects. He made a number of excellent laws and 
then professed Christianity, though it is impossible to 




"The sea kept edging nearer.' 



44 Young People's History of England. 

place much faith in such a professing Christian. One day, 
when sick of the flatteries of his courtiers, who assured 
him that even the sea would not dare to wet his robe, he 
caused his throne to be placed on the beach as the tide 
was coming in. Of course the sea kept edging nearer, 
until it was necessary, in order to escape a wetting, to re- 
move him and his throne, whereupon he turned and 
administered the severe rebuke his courtiers deserved 
for their foolishness. Canute seemed from this time 
forward to act upon the Christian principles he pro- 
fessed, and praise cannot be denied to his conduct of 
affairs. 

Canute was succeeded by his sons Harold and Hardi- 
canute, the latter being the son of Emma; but the Eng- 
lish had become weary of Danish rulers, and the Great 
Council of Witan sent for Edward, the son of Ethelred 
and Emma, in order to make him king. This young man 
had spent so many years among the Normans that he was 
really one of them. He brought a great many Norman 
favorites to England with him. He showed them every 
indulgence, and made a secret promise to Duke William 
of Normandy, upon a visit of the latter to the English 
court, that if he died before the duke, he would leave the 
English crown to him. 

According to the piety of those days, Edward was a 
very religious man, winning for himself the title of "the 
Confessor." He surrounded himself with priests and 
monks, and filled the churches, the abbeys and monaster- 
ies with Normans. Even Norman-French became the 
language of the court. The Saxons were greatly dis- 



Danes and Saxons. 



45 



pleased, and none more so than the great Earl Godwin. 
He rebelled against the king and was banished, but upon 
his return, shortly afterward, the Witenagemot* assembled 
in London, and the earls, thanes, bishops and freemen 
entered the Great Council and agreed in declaring that 
all of Godwin's posts and honors should be restored to 
him and peace made between him and the king. 

It was a strange and wonderful victory. The two 
armies that were ready to engage in battle dissolved with- 
out bloodshed, and the foreign favorites fled to Normandy. 
The king now turned his thoughts to church affairs, and 
moved his re- 
si d e n c e from 
Winchester to 
London, where 
all his interest 
centred in the 
building of an 
abbey church, 
which was after- 
ward rebuilt on the same ground and grew into the mag- 
nificent structure now known as Westminster Abbey. 
Godwin, and after him his son Harold, ruled the land in 
the name of Edward, who was delighted, on Christmas, 
when he saw his loved church completed. He gave a 
great feast in the royal palace near it, but was taken ill 
in the midst of the rejoicings. Feeling himself released 
from his rash promise to make Duke William of Nor- 




Harold's Oath (from the Bayeux Tapestry). 



Council of AVitan. 



46 



Young People's History of England. 



mandy bis successor, he advised, while on his death-bed, 
that the Witan should elect Harold, Earl of Wessex, as 
king. His advice was followed, and in January, 1066, 
Harold was crowned in Westminster Abbey. 




Norman and Saxon Arms. 



CHAPTER III. 
NORMANS, 1066-1154. 

WILLIAM I., WILLIAM II., HENRY I. (1066-1100.) 

THE maddest man in all Europe was William, Duke 
of Normandy, when he learned that Harold had been 
crowned King of England, for, as you will remem- 
ber, Harold had promised to yield the crown in his favor. 
William was hunting in his park when the tidings came 
to him, and his looks and manner were so terrible that 
for a time none of his attendants dare speak to him. 
Finally one of his courtiers, learning the cause of his 
wrath, suggested that the one thing to do was to cross over 
to England and conquer it. This suited William exactly, 
and he at once began his preparations. He promised to 
present his barons with no end of land and English 
wealth, and they rallied around him. The Pope of Pome 
sent him a consecrated banner and a ring containing hair 
which he warranted had grown upon the head of St. 
Peter, and then gently expressed the hope that the Nor- 
mans would be a little more regular in paying to him 
" Peter's Pence," which was a tax of a penny a year on 
each house. 

King Harold found the skies dark. He had a brother 
in Flanders who was a vassal of the King of Norway, and 

(47) 



48 



Young People's History of England. 



the two in- 
vaded Eng- 
land as al- 
lies of Wil- 
liam, They 
won the first 
fi g h t an d 
laid siege to 
the town of 
York. Har- 
old, who was 
waiting for 
the Nor- 
mans on the 
coast at 
H as tings, 
inarched to 
S t a mf or d 
Bridge, on 
the river 
Derwent, 
not doubt- 
ing that he 
would utter- 
ly crush and 
overwhelm 
them. H e 

The Lauding of William of Normandy. WOn a V1C " 

tory, and 
was celebrating it with a grand feast, when a messenger 




Normans. 



49 



wwx 



NTERF6C 
EST 



arrived in great haste with news that William had landed 
with his army. Harold hurried to the south to meet this 
formidable enemy at Senlac, midway between Pevensey 
and Hastings, and some five miles back from the sea. 

The eventful battle opened on the morning of October 
14, 1066, and lasted until night, with heavy losses on 
both sides. Then the sun went down, and Harold, with his 
principal leaders, lay dead on the ground, and the banner 
of William, "the three Lions of Normandy," waved over 
the bloody field in victory. 
The battle of Hastings was 
won by the Normans, who 
pressed their conquest with 
merciless rigor. 

Harold being dead, the 
English were without a leader, 
and William of Normandy 
marched up the coast, deso- 
lating the land as he advanced, for everyone held him in 
mortal terror and dared offer no opposition. On Christ- 
mas day he was crowned in Westminster Abbey as Wil- 
liam the First, though he is better known as William the 
Conqueror. The land, however, was in such tumult that 
it was four years before he fully subdued it and brought 
anything like quiet to the miserable people. 

The king kept his promise of dividing the estates of 
the English nobles, many of whom had fallen in battle, 
among the Norman knights and nobles. There are many 
English families to-day who are proud to trace back their 
land-titles to the Norman conquest. The new nobles were 




Death of Harold (from the Bayeux 
Tapestry). 



50 



Young People's History of England. 




Coronation of William the Conqueror. 



obliged t o 
build pow- 
erful castles 
all over 
England, in 
order to de- 
fend t h eir 
property. 
The Nor- 
m an la n- 
guage and 
customs 
were gradu- 
ally intro- 
duced, but 
most of the 
inhabitants 
r emaine d 
sour and re- 
ven gef u 1, 
ea°er for the 
chance t o 
strike a blow 
at the de- 
tested inva- 
ders. 

The 
chance of- 
fered when 
W i 1 1 i a tn 




At Stamford Bridge. 



51 



52 Young People's History of England. 

made a visit to Normandy and left liis half-brother Odo 
in charge of his English kingdom. This wretch so 
angered the people by his oppressions that the men of 
Kent invited their old enemy, Count Eustace of Boulogne, 
to come over and take possession of Dover. The men of 
Hereford, with the help of the Welsh, drove the Normans 
out of their country. There were bandings together in 
the north, in Scotland, and at other places, of those who 
had been despoiled of their lands, and for a time a guer- 
rilla warfare was kept up, much like that in Cuba against 
Spain. 

The situation became so critical that William came 
back, seeing that he must do so or lose his kingdom. He 
put down the rebellion with a hand that never knew the 
meaning of mercy. He spared no one, man or woman, 
young or old, and there was truth in the declaration that 
this fierce savage turned England into one vast graveyard. 

And yet there are those who look upon William the 
Conqueror as a noble character, forgetting the woe and 
suffering he caused for no other purpose than to gratify 
his own ambition. How strange that, from as far back as 
history gives a record, mankind has permitted such 
wretches to ride roughshod over them ! Hundreds of 
thousands of good, peaceful, industrious men, living 
happy lives with their wives and little ones, would rush 
off to help kill those of as j^eaceful mind as themselves, 
but who were equally submissive to the whims of their 
devilish rulers. Some lazy, wicked king or queen would 
have a quarrel with another debauched ruler, and settle it 
by ordering their subjects to claw at each other's throats, 




Finding the Dead Body of King Har. 

5— £ttia' England. 



Id. 



53 



54 Young People's History of England. 

while the monarehs lolled on their silken couches, their 
brains sodden with wine and their bodies bloated with 
the fat of the land. How much, better it would have 
been had the oppressed people, when their rulers began 
wrangling, taken them by the heels, cracked their heads 
together, and then, flinging them into a pit, left them to 
fight it out among themselves, while the subjects went 
about their business. But such is not human nature, and 
-.# v B anil*, c , ,- the s;a me of gathering " glory " 
^^EW^^-SSf will probably go on until the 

ppZkT^jYi^^^ millennium. 

^kuQ&'&x U«fcdBL The grimmest farce of the 

■^^^lli^^T^^;lT K whole business was that those 

{ ^ib,u.fe r u,7 r uv.A^. 7 ,<M.^. w lio committed every otience 

7f SlT / «f!Kg^ tt ^ l uftw p iwMfc^ forbidden in the Decalogue 

tr^tSrfe<S^^.^» claimed to be Christians ! O 

t^.T^^Tw>&S^ what crimes are committed in 

7 a.^u.n,As^,a 7 /w 7 M.i2^ the name ot the meek and 

* lowly One, who taught love, 

Facsimile of Part of Domesday good-will, charity and killd- 

ness to all ! 

William established the custom of ringing the curfew 
bell in the evening, a practice kept up for a great many 
years in England. It was notice that the people should 
put out their candles and fires, in order to prevent confla- 
grations. Such was the pretended reason, but a good 
many of us believe that it was to prevent persons from 
meeting together to talk over affairs and consult with one 
another as to the best remedy for the woful times. 

One useful act of William, though his motive was not 



Normans. 



55 



wholly worthy, was the preparation of a full list of all the 
estates in the kingdom. It may be said to have recorded 
everything, — every rood of land, peasant's hut, ox, cow, 
pig and hive of bees. The English declared that there 
was no more chance of eluding this probe than of escap- 
ing the Day of Judg- 
ment; they therefore 
called the record the 
Domesday Book. 

Now, William 
h a d three sons: 
Robert, called Curt- 
hose, because of the 
shortness of his legs ; 
William, sur named 
Rufus, or the Red, 
on account of the 
color of his hair; 
and Henry, known 
as Beauclerc, signi- 
fying his fondness 
for learning. When 
you 1 e a r n about 

Robert, you will conclude that he was the greatest scamp 
that ever lived; but, after hearing of William, you will 
be sure that the distinction belongs to him. Wait, how- 
ever, until you become acquainted with Henry, for you 
will then declare he was the meanest of all this precious 
trio. 

When Robert was a young man he asked his father 




Matilda, Wife of William the Conqueror. 



56 Young People's History of England. 

to give him the government of Normandy, which he had 
held in name under his mother Matilda, The king 
refused, and Robert sulked. One day while he was stroll- 
ing about, thinking how meanly he was treated, his 
brothers laughed at him from an upper window and 
flung some water over him. Robert, in a fury, drew his 
sword, rushed upstairs, and would have killed both had 
not the king prevented. Still enraged, he fled from his 
father's court that night with a number of followers, and, 
failing to take the castle of Rouen (roo-en' or roo-on') 
by surprise, he shut himself up in another castle of Nor- 
mandy, where the king besieged him. In the fight 
Robert unhorsed his father, and was on the point of kill- 
ing him, when he saw who he was, and spared his life. 
Then the queen brought about a reconciliation ; but Rob- 
ert was an ingrate through and through, and, though he 
swore to be true and faithful to his father, he broke his 
pledge again and again, being forgiven each time, until 
the wonder is that the patience of the monarch did not 
give out. 

William was a glutton and fond of hunting. He tore 
down hundreds of the villages and homes of the poor 
people and turned them out of doors, to provide 
himself with hunting-grounds. Think of his having 
sixty-eight royal forests ! But that was not enough, so 
lie bundled out the peasants from an immense tract in 
Hampshire, called The New Forest. All the miserable 
victims could do was to curse him, and you may be sure 
they did that from the bottom of their hearts. 

Having a quarrel with the King of France about 



Normans. 



57 



some terri- j 
tory, Wil- 
Ham went 
to Eou en, j 
where, be- 
coming an- 
gered over 
a slighting 
remark of 
the French 
ruler, he 
gathered 
his arm y, 
marclie d 
into the 
disputed 
territory, 
a n d d e- 
stroyed the 
vines, fruit 
and crops. 
While rid- 
ing among 
the smould- 
ering ruins, 
and exult- 
ing over 
the misery 
h e h a d 
caused, his 




Robert Unhorsed his Father. 



58 Young People's History of England. . 

horse stepped upon some live embers, made a frantic leap, 
and flung him with such violence against the pommel of 
his saddle that he was mortally hurt. He lay dying for 
six weeks, during which he made his will, giving England 
to William, Normandy to Robert, while Henry was pre- 
sented with five thousand pounds. Then, like many a 
wicked man who has defied God all his life, he thought 
to make peace with heaven by presenting large sums of 
money to churches, monasteries, and by releasing numer- 
ous prisoners of state. And it is safe to say that all his 
presents did not weigh so much in the sight of heaven as 
the widow's mite. 

Picture in your mind the death of William the Con- 
queror, who, like every man, must bow sooner or later 
to the last grim enemy of all. Not one of his sons came 
near him during his last dreadful hours, and hardly had 
he closed his weary eyes when the nobles, priests and 
physicians ran off to secure each his own property in 
the strife for the throne which they knew would soon 
break out, The servants of the court seized the chance 
to rob and plunder. In the frightful struggle the body 
of the dead king tumbled off the bed and lay for hours, 
uncared for, on the floor. After a time a pitying knight 
attempted to convey it to Caen {ca'en or kahn), in Nor- 
mandy, that it might be buried in St. Stephen's Church, 
which the Conqueror had founded. Only after great 
trouble was it at last placed under ground. 

I doubt whether a single honest tear was shed over 
the death of the mighty Kins; William, for such a life as 
he led awakens love in no one. His son William the 



or mans. 



59 



Red, as soon as he heard of his father's death, made all 
haste to cross the English channel. He promised to re- 
strain the Norman barons, who had become very oppres- 
sive, and made such a stout fight that he won and was 




The Death of William the Conqueror. 



crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1087, as 
William the Second, King of England. 

I have already said that William was a base wretch. 
He was as strong-willed as his father, but utterly wanting 



60 



Young People's History of EnglaiK 



in conscience. The historian has said of him: " He 
feared God but little, man not at all." You remember 
that his father just before he died released a great many 
state prisoners. One of the first things done by the son 
was to thrust them all into prison again. It is true he 
kept down the Norman barons, but he ground the poor 
peasants to the earth, and taxed them so heavily, that 

many died of starvation. He 
robbed the churches. His bro- 
ther, the reckless scapegrace 
Robert, seemed to be satisfied 
with being a Duke of Nor- 
mandy, while his elder brother 
was having a gay time with 
his five thousand pounds, and 
the king thought he was going 
to have an easy reign. But 
how true it is that "uneasy lies 
the head that wears a crown." 
So little did William care 
for the church that there was 
no Archbishop of Canterbury 
for four years; but one day 
the king fell ill and was seized with a spasm of repen- 
tance, in which lie appointed Ansel m, a most wwthy 
man, to that high office. Anselm was not only good, but 
he was brave, and did not shrink from reproving the 
king for many of his wicked acts. But the ruler, when 
he became well, forgot the promises he made when ill, 
and carried matters with so high a hand that Anselm 




Building a Church, a.d. 10<;<> 



Normans. 61 

appealed to the Pope, and did all he could to increase 
the power of that potentate over the church in England. 
One trouble was caused by the curious fact that at that 
time there were two Popes, each of whom claimed to be 
the true one. Finally Anselm became so disgusted with 
the kins: that he left England. 

One day in August, 1100, the king and a merry party 
were hunting in one of the vast royal forests, from which 
the miserable people had been driven. The last time the 
king was seen alive he w r as riding with Sir Walter Tyr- 
rel and a large string of hounds. Just as night was 
closing in, a charcoal-burner came upon the body of a man 
shot with an arrow in the breast and still bleeding. He 
lifted him into his cart, and the next day carried the 
body to Winchester Cathedral, where it was recognized 
as that of the king. 

Who launched the arrow that ended the life of King 
William the Second? Sir Walter Tyrrel fled to Nor- 
mandy and claimed the protection of the King of France. 
He declared that while he and the king were hunting to- 
gether, an unseen person fired the fatal arrow, and, fear- 
ing that the crime would belaid to him, Tyrrel made all 
haste to leave the country. Others insist that it was 
Tyrrel who killed the king, but that it was accidental, 
being due to the glancing of his arrow from the trunk 
of a tree. The real truth will never be known, and it 
is not important that it should be. 

Henry the First, or " Fine Scholar," did not allow 
the grass to grow under his feet when he learned of the 
death of his brother. On the third day after, it being 






62 Young People's History of England. 

Sunday, he stood before the imposing altar in Westmin- 
ster Abbey and took a solemn oath to return the church 
property which his brother had seized ; not to do any 
wrong to the nobles ; and to restore to the people the laws 
of Edward the Confessor, with all the good amendments 
made by his late father, 

The reign of Henry the First began well, for the peo- 
ple liked him because he was an Englishman by birth. 
To strengthen this bond, he married Maud the Good, 
daughter of the King of Scotland. She was beautiful, 
amiable and kind-hearted. She did not love the king, 
but consented to become his wife that she might aid in 
uniting the Norman and Saxon races. Henry was called 
the " Lion of Justice," and it must be admitted that he 
did some creditable things. During the reign of his 
father, the Witenagemot began to be known as the " Great 
Council," and its members consisted only of the rich 
tenants-in-chief or barons, who held lands under the 
king. This ruling body met only at long intervals, so 
Henry organized the "King's Court;" and, to secure jus- 
tice to the humbler classes, he ordered judges to travel 
from place to place to listen to the complaints of the peo- 
ple and to make known the wishes of the king. 

This was a big step forward, and it brought hundreds 
of people from other countries to live in England. Among 
them were weavers and farmers from Flanders and monks 
from France. But the king was selfish and mean, caring 
no more for his word than a good many other rulers 
before and since his time. It happened that when he 
came to the throne his only living brother, Robert, was 




(63) 



The Death of William the Second. 



64 



Young People's History of England. 



absent in the Holy Land, engaged on one of the Crusades, 
of which I shall have more to tell you in another place. 
Robert's rough, rollicking ways made him many friends, 
and the king, feeling distrust of him, gave out that he had 
been made sovereign of Palestine, and a good many be- 
lieved the statement, though it contained not the slightest 
truth. 




Great Seal of William the Conqueror. 



But lo ! one day Robert appeared in Normandy with 
a beautiful wife, whom he brought from Italy. He was 
received with great rejoicings, and in response to the urg- 
ings of many of the Norman nobles consented to invade 
England, with the purpose of wresting the crown from 
Henry. The latter, however, gathered so strong an army 
that Robert saw a contest would be useless, and he agreed 
to leave the country on condition of receiving a liberal 
pension, and on the promise that all his followers should 
be fully pardoned. The king made the pledge and Robert 
took his departure. 



CHAPTER IV. 

normans (concluded), 1066-1154. 

HENRY I., STEPHEN (1100-1154). 

ROBERT had hardly turned his back on England 
when Henry proceeded to violate his promise. Re- 
vengeful by nature, he set about punishing those 
that had befriended his brother, and treated them with 
such cruelty that Robert hurried back from Normandy to 
intercede for them. The king pretended to be friendly, 
but Robert soon found he was surrounded by spies, and 
that the only way to save his life was to give up his pen- 
sion. This he did, and, having become aware of the un- 
utterable meanness of his brother, he joined his enemies, 
thereby doing the very thing the king wished him to do. 
Henry declared that his brother had broken the treaty, 
and the following year he invaded Normandy, giving out 
that his purpose was to deliver the country from the mis- 
rule of Robert. 

The latter made the best fight he could, but was de- 
feated, and he and several hundred of his knights were 
taken prisoners. Now, how do you suppose the king 
treated his brother, whose undying support he might 
have won by showing him magnanimity ? In the first 
place, he sentenced him to be confined for life in one of 

(65) 



66 Young People's History of England. 

the royal castles. Robert chafed under this restraint, and 
one day, when riding with his guards, broke away and 
galloped off; but unfortunately his horse was mired in a 
bog and his keepers came up and recaptured him. When 
the king was told of what his only brother had attempted, 
he ordered his eyesight to be destroyed, and it was done ! 
The poor, miserable captive lingered until eighty years 
old, long after his savage brother had died, and then he 
closed his sightless eyes and passed away. 

Maud, the good queen, died without seeing the mis- 
sion of her life accomplished, for Henry broke his vows 
so often that trouble was continuous. A peace having 
been patched up, the king went over to Normandy, 
taking his son Prince William and a great company of 
nobles, to have the prince acknowledged as his suc- 
cessor by the Norman nobles. This was done, and on 
the 25th of November, 1120, everything was made ready 
to embark for home. 

The prince was eighteen years old and just such a son 
as you might expect, with so despicable a father. He 
was debauched, dissolute, and so vile that he boasted that 
when he came to the throne he would yoke the English 
and make them toil at the plows as if they were so many 
oxen. The king and his own special party made the return 
voyage in safety, but the vessel carrying the prince and 
more than a hundred nobles sank, with all on board, ex- 
cepting one man. When the woful tidings was carried 
to the king, lie was so overcome that for a time he lay 
like a dead man. When he recovered, it was said he was 
never seen to smile again. 



Normans. 



67 



But so long as lie lived he plotted and lied and de- 
ceived. He married a second time, but, having no more 
children, proposed to the barons 
that they should recognize his 
daughter Matilda as his suc- 
cessor. She being a widow, he 
married her to the eldest son 
of the Count of Anjou, Geof- 
frey, sur named Plantagenet, 
because of a custom he had of 
wearing a sprig of flowering 
broom in his cap for a feather 
The barons took the required 
oath twice over, and even then 
not one of them had the slight- 
est intention of keeping it. 
They had learned well of 
Henry himself, and a hundred 
such oaths would not have had 
a feather's weight with them. 

Since Matilda became the 
mother of three sons, and the 
recognition of her right to the 
throne descended of necessity 
to her children, Henry once 
more felt secure about the fu- 
ture ; but his last days were 
plagued with family quarrels. 

Normandy, near his daughter Matilda; but, like most of 
his people, he was a great glutton, and when sixty-seven 




Mutilated Statues of Henry I. and 
Queen Matilda ( from Rochester 
Cathedral). 



He preferred to live 



in 



68 Young People's History of England. 

years old died of acute indigestion, brought on by the 
unbridled indulgence of his appetite. 

The king being dead, all the fine plans he had formed 
for the succession tumbled to the ground like a house of 
cards. Stephen, a grandson of the Conqueror, who had 
been treated liberally by Henry, immediately claimed the 
throne. He based this claim on the alleged promise of 
Henry to make him his successor. It is impossible to 
believe that any such promise was made, but Stephen 
brought forward a servant whom he bribed to swear to 
having heard it, and the Archbishop of Canterbury 
crowned Stephen, who seized the royal treasure and 
hired foreign soldiers to aid him in establishing himself 
on the throne. 

And now once again came back the miserable days to 
England, simply because two wretches, one a man and 
the other a woman, were determined to become the ruler 
of the country. Had they been compelled to settle the 
quarrel themselves in some way, it would not have made 
a particle of difference to the people which won ; but the 
pity of it all is that such an excellent way of ending 
quarrels between those high in authority never seems 
practical. There are too many interests bound up in the 
success of one or other of the principals. Some of the 
barons joined Matilda's forces and some those of Stephen, 
and the civil war went on, and the days were evil through- 
out the land. Five years after the death of Henry the 
First, Matilda, attended by her brother Robert and a 
large army, entered England to uphold her claim. A 
battle followed, at Lincoln, and though the king fought 



Normans. 



69 



brief as it was stormy. 



with great bravery, he was taken prisoner and placed 
in strict confinement at Gloucester. Then the priests 
crowned Matilda Queen of England. 

But the reign of Matilda was as 
In Normandy the people would 
not consent that a woman should 
rule over them, and there was 
a good deal of the same opposi- 
tion in England. In those far 
away days the profession of 
arms was regarded as the high- 
est of all, and it was looked 
upon as indispensable that a 
ruler should be able to lead in 
battle. Besides, Stephen was 
well liked in London, and the 
Queen's overbearing disposition 
made her unpopular. So the 
people rose against her, and, 
joining the troops of Stephen, 
besieged her at Winchester and 
took her brother Robert pris- 
oner. He was the only one fit 
to lead her forces, and she was 
glad to get him back in ex- 
change for King Stephen. 

Thus the respective leaaers 
were again in their old places, and the war was renewed 
with all the former ferocity. It went against Matilda, 
who was compelled to flee in disguise, and her brother 

G— Ellis' England, 




Part of the Choir of Canterbury 
Cathedra], in building from 
1175 to 1184. 



70 Young People's History of England. 

dying soon afterward, she returned to Normandy and gave 
up the hopeless struggle. 

But two or three years later her son Henry, who was 
only eighteen years old, and had proved his fine ability as 
a warrior by driving out the invaders of Normandy, 
crossed to England to help his supporters, who were be- 
sieged by Stephen at Wallingford on the Thames. The 
armies lay for two days on opposite sides of the river, 
and were about to join in desperate battle, when a 
number of nobles on both sides expressed deep sym- 
pathy for the suffering country and insisted that the 
quarrel should be settled without any more fighting. 
Then took place a strange thing. Stephen walked down 
to the bank of the Thames, and young Plantagenet came 
to the water on the other side, and the two began talking 
with each other. It did not take them long to agree upon 
a truce. This was followed by a solemn council at Win- 
chester, in which it was agreed that Stephen should retain 
the crown of England on condition of declaring Henry 
his successor ; that William, another son of the king, 
should inherit his rightful possessions; that all the crown 
lands that Stephen had given away should be recalled, 
and all the castles he had allowed to be built — more than 
a thousand in number — should be demolished. In this 
sensible manner terminated a war that had lasted fifteen 
years and made England a waste. Why could not the 
remedy have been applied long before ? Having reigned 
nineteen years, Stephen died in a.d. 1135. 

Thus ended the list of Norman kings of England, and 
before proceeding with the history of their successors, it 



Normans. 



71 



will be interesting to learn something of the everyday life 
and customs of the people who lived nearly a thousand 
years ago. 

The Saxon kings from Egbert down called themselves 
"Kings of the English," that is, of a race or people. 
William claimed 
the whole country 
as his own by right 
of conquest. They 
were therefore 

"Kings of Eng- 
land," though the 
title was not form- 
ally used until 
fifty years later. 

' It has been 
that the 
associated 
himself in 
the government 
the Great or Na- 
tional Council, 
composed at first 
of the archbishops, 
bishops and abbots ; and, second, the earls and barons ; in 
other words, of all the great landholders who held their 
land directly from the crown. Usually this Council met on 
Christmas, Easter and Whitsuntide of each year. Although 
it was specified that all laws were made by the king with 
the advice and consent of the Council, he really made the 



shown 

king 

with 




Norman House at Lincoln, called the Jew's House. 
Built about 1140. The square windows are of 
later date. 



72 Young People's History of England. 

laws himself. He also levied taxes with so little regard 
for the wishes of his nominal advisers that trouble was 
frequent. 

The King's Council, also previously referred to, had 
for its leading officers the Chief Justice, who ruled during 
the king's absence ; the Lord Chancellor, who was the 
king's adviser and confidential secretary, and kept the 
Great Seal with which he stamped all important papers, 
and the Lord High Treasurer, who received the moneys 
due the crown and kept the king's treasure in the vaults 
at Westminster or Winchester. 

In the days of the Saxons, Trial by Ordeal was intro- 
duced. When a person was accused of a crime, and his 
denial under oath was not sufficient, he was compelled to 
submit to the Ordeal. This generally consisted of carry- 
ing a hot iron a short distance, or of plunging the arm up 
to the elbow in boiling water. Before resorting to this 
judgment the accused appealed to heaven to prove his in- 
nocence by protecting him from harm. If the test was 
made honestly, I should be glad to know how any one 
could prove his innocence, for when has there been a 
time that hot iron and boiling water would not burn a 
lamb as quickly as a wolf? 

The Normans introduced the Trial by Battle, in which 
each contestant appealed to heaven to give him the vic- 
tory, and whoever won the duel was looked upon as the one 
that was in the right. The common people fought on 
foot with clubs, but the noblemen battled on horseback, 
in full armor, with sword, lance and battle-axe. The 
combat always took place in the presence of judges, and 




The Noblemen Battled on Horseback." 



(73) 



74 Young People's History of England. 

might last from morning till night. When priests and 
women felt the necessity of settling some dispute by a 
conflict, they chose champions to represent them. This 
curious practice was not formally abolished in England 
until 1819, though it had fallen into disuse some years 
before. 

Now, in England a man was noble because he was a 
member of the National Council, or, if he were an earl, 
it was because he represented the king in the government 
of a county or earldom. He was obliged to pay tax, and 
his rank could not descend to more than one of his chil- 
dren. In France, however, a nobleman was such by 
birth; he was usually exempt from taxation, and his 
rank descended to all his children. 

An important law was that governing the method of 
holding land. In the first place, all the land belonged 
to the king, who let it out to chief tenants, they, including 
ecclesiastical dignitaries, numbering perhaps 1500, consti- 
tuting the Norman barons. In return for the right to 
these lands, the barons were bound to render military or 
other service to the kins: whenever he called for it. 

Next below these barons were some 8000 under-ten- 
ants, who had been despoiled of their estates. Every 
one who held land was obliged to furnish the king with a 
fully armed and mounted soldier, to serve for forty days 
each year for every piece of land producing twenty pounds 
annually. Besides the feudal troops there was a national 
militia, consisting of peasants and others, not provided 
with armor, who fought on foot with bows and spears. 
The great landholders rented parts of their estates to 



Normans. 75 

tenants on much the same terms as they held their own. 
The lowest class of tenants were the villeins or serfs, who 
were allowed to hold small pieces of land on condition 
of doing work upon it. They could be sold with the 
land, but were not wholly slaves, since the law gave them 
a few rights. 

The army was composed of cavalry, or knights, and 
foot-soldiers. You must bear in mind that the times to 
which we refer were several centuries before the inven- 
tion of gunpowder. The knights wore armor, which was 
made of leather or strong linen, on which pieces of bone 
or scales or rings of iron were sewed. At a later date 
the rings were placed edgewise, or the scales overlapped. 
The helmet or covering for the head was pointed, and 
had a guard to the nose in front. The shield was of a long 
oval, or the shape of a kite. The chief weapons of the 
knights were a lance and a double-edged sword. The foot- 
soldiers made little use of armor, and generally fought 
with longbows. It is supposed that the king could mus- 
ter some 10,000 knights, and four or five times as many 
foot-soldiers. 

Some of those knights were famous fighters, and could 
w r ield their huge swords and lances with amazing power. 
They were superb horsemen, for they had to undergo a 
long and severe training to fit them for their work. The 
most graphic pictures of the battles or jousts between the 
knights of the olden days are found in the matchless ro- 
mances of Sir Walter Scott. A candidate placed himself 
in charge of a nobleman or knight, serving first as a 
page, then as a squire or attendant, and accompanying 



G 



Young People's History of England. 



his master to wars. After seven years of tin's hard 
training, he prepared himself for receiving the honors of 

knighthood 
by spending 
several davs 
in church, 
engaged in 
fasting, pray- 
er and solemn 
rites. He 
next made 
oath in the 
presence of 
friends and 
kindred to be 
loyal to the 




»g, 



to d< 



A Norman Hawking Party 



renowned warrior buckled on his spurs, 
priest had blessed his sword, girded it to his side, 
final step was to kneel to the prince or noble 
struck him lightly on the shoulder with the flat of his 



fend religion, 
and to be the 
champion of 
every lady in 
distress or in 
need of his 
services. 
Then a high- 
born dame or 
and, after the 
The 
who 




" Put into a Dungeon and Tortured." 

When milder means failed, even kings had recourse to imprisonment and 
torture to extort money. 

77 



78 Young People's History of England. 

sword, saying: "In the name of God, St. Michael and 
St. George (the patron saint of England), I dub thee 
knight. Be brave, hardy and loyal." Then the happy 
cavalier vaulted into the saddle and galloped up and 
down, brandishing his weapons in token of strength and 
skill. Should he prove false, as was sometimes the case, 
he was publicly degraded, his spurs taken from him, 
his shield reversed, his armor broken, and a sermon 
preached in the nearest church proclaiming him dead to 
the order. 

Printing being unknown, books were written, and 
were few and very costly. Some of the most renowned 
knights were unable to write their names, they preferring 
to leave book learning to the monks, priests and lawyers. 
The Normans were more temperate than the Saxons in 
their mode of living, but were fond of dress. At one time 
they wore their hair very long, despite the thunders of 
the clergy against the effeminate practice. It is said 
that on one Easter Sunday an indignant priest at the close 
of his sermon took out a pair of shears and cropped the 
heads of the entire congregation, including the king. 

Previous to the Norman conquest no Englishman 
had more than one name, but the Normans introduced 
surnames. The principal amusements were hunting and 
hawking. By hawking is meant the catching of small 
birds with trained hawks. In the period following the 
Norman kings, tournaments or mock combats became fash- 
ionable. Theatrical plays were introduced by the Church, 
and written and acted by monks. At first they repre- 
sented Scripture scenes, but afterward became broader in 



Normans. 79 

their scope, and always aimed to be moral in their 
teachings. 

In the growth of what is known as the feudal system, 
every noble had his massive castle, where he reigned as a 
despot and perpetrated all manner of cruelties. Some of 
the writers of those times declared that it was not men 
but devils who ruled in those castles. A man or woman 
suspected of having money was put into a dungeon un- 
derneath the castle and tortured by hanging up by the 
thumbs, or with head downward, or broken to death in 
chests filled with sharp-pointed stones, or starved where 
snakes and toads crawled over the damp floors. Once, 
during the civil war under Stephen, the Pope laid Eng- 
land under an interdict which forbade any service to be 
performed in the churches, any couples to be married, 
bells to be rung, or dead bodies to be buried. 



CHAPTER V. 

PLANT AG ENETS (1154-1399). 
HENRY II. (1154-1189). 

HENRY PLANTAGENET was just twenty-one 
years old when he became King of England in 
a.d. 1154, and he was the richest sovereign in 
Christendom, for, in addition to the exalted rank named, 
he was Duke of Normandy. He was crowned six weeks 
after the death of Stephen, he and his queen, Eleanor, 
riding into the city on horseback amidst great shouting 
and ceremony. From his father, Count Geoffrey, he 
gained the title of Angevin. That of Plantagenet, as I 
have explained, was derived from the count's habit of 
wearing a sprig of the golden-blossomed broom-plant, or 
Plante-genet, as it is in French, in his helmet, 

The reign of Henry II. opened well, for he was vigor- 
ous, strong-minded, and anxious to serve his country. He 
recalled the many grants of land that had been hastily 
made on both sides during the late struggle; compelled 
hundreds of disorderly soldiers to leave England; re- 
claimed all the castles belonging to the crown, and made 
the lawless nobles tear down their castles, which had so 

(80) 



Plantagenets. 81 

long been plague-spots in the land. History states that 
eleven hundred of those massive prisons were tumbled 
into ruins. 

King Henry was a "sound money" man. During 
the civil war the barons had issued a great deal of debased 
coinage, which he now abolished and replaced with silver 
pieces of full value and weight. Having a good claim to 
the county of Toulouse {too-looz'), in France, through his 
wife, he went to war to enforce his claim. His barons 
refused to furnish troops to fight outside of England, 
whereupon the king told them he would be just as well 
satisfied if each knight paid a sum of money in place of 
service. This tax was called shield-money or " scutage." 
The money thus paid enabled the ruler to hire foreign 
soldiers; and when he revived the militia law he not only 
made himself independent of the barons, but gained 
greater power than any king had had before him. It was 
a shrewd move on his part, for it accomplished a vast deal 
for him. 

One matter caused the king great vexation. While 
the clergy numbered many good men, there were some of 
the worst scoundrels that ever lived among them. They 
were thieves, burglars and murderers; and what angered 
the monarch was the existence of a law which provided a 
special court for the trial of all members of the clergy 
accused of crime. It was William the Conqueror who 
established the ecclesiastical courts, which, if they found 
the clergy guilty, turned them over to the secular courts 
for punishment. No worse condition of affairs can be 
imagined than that in which there is one law for a certain 



82 Young People's History of England. 

class and another law for another class. Many priests 
who had committed shocking crimes were set free or pun- 
ished lightly, when, had they not been clergymen, they 
would have suffered death. It must be added, in justice 
to the clergy, that most of these criminals were not men 
who had prepared for the Church, but, having committed 
crimes, they made haste to take the vows of the Church 
for no other reason than to escape the punishment they 
richly deserved. 

In order to end this disgraceful condition of affairs, it 
was necessary for the king to have a devoted friend as 
Archbishop of Canterbury. So, when the monarch had 
ruled for seven years, he appointed Thomas Becket, who 
was his chancellor. Becket was a remarkable man, very 
wealthy, gay and brave, as he had proven in more than 
one battle in France. No man was fonder of display, 
and, wherever he went, the splendor of his retinue caused 
no end of wonder and admiration. He did not wish to 
be archbishop, and warned Henry that if he accepted the 
office he would oppose the proposed Church reforms of 
the king, but the latter would take no denial, and so 
Becket became Archbishop of Canterbury. The moment 
he assumed the office, his whole character underwent a 
radical change. He dismissed his attendants, gave up 
all luxury and show, lived on bread and water, wore 
sackcloth, and spent many a night in prayer and pen- 
ance. Never was there greater amazement throughout 
the land than was caused by this wonderful change in 
Becket. It was much the same as if the Prince of 
Wales should become a laborer in the coal mines, de- 



Plantagenets. 



83 



pending on ins miserable daily pittance for his bread and 
butter. 

The king was provoked by the conduct of the great 
dignitary, but Becket cared nothing for his good or ill 
opinion, and continued to enjoy his physi- 
cal misery and spiritual happiness. 

The trouble that Becket foresaw was 
not long in coming. The king, like all 
other rulers, found himself in need of 
money, and to obtain it placed a tax on 
all lands, including not only those that 
belonged to barons but to churchmen. 
Becket was willing that the clergy should 
contribute, but would not consent to their 
being assessed, that is, compelled to pay.- 
Just how the king and archbishop settled 
their dispute is not known, but one thing is 
certain : from that time forward they were 
enemies, for the will of both was of iron. 

It did not soothe the anger of the king 
when Becket, claiming various estates of 
the nobles as Church property, actually 
forced Henry to give up Rochester Castle, 
city of Rochester itself. Moreover, Becket insisted that 
no power but himself should appoint a priest to any 
church in England over which he was archbishop. To 
show his sincerity in this business, he excommunicated a 
dignitary who claimed and used the right to make such 
an appointment. 

Excommunication is the most terrifying weapon of the 




Mitre of Becket. 



nd even the 



84 Young People's History of England. 

Catholic Church. It declares a person an outcast from 
the Church and from all religious offices, curses him from 
the top of his head to the soles of his feet, whether sleep- 
ing, awake, or engaged in any possible occupation of mind 
or body. Henry was aflame with rage that the arch- 
bishop had dared to excommunicate one of the royal 
vassals. The quarrel between the king and archbishop 
grew more bitter. Henry won most of the bishops and 
all the Norman nobles to his side, and Becket was left to 
fight single-handed. But he had the prayers of the Eng- 
lish, who were delighted at the sight of one man that was 
not afraid of the king. 

Henry was as resolute as the archbishop, and in 1164 
he called an assembly of bishops and nobles at Clarendon, 
near Salisbury, to whom he submitted sixteen articles, 
known as the " Constitutions of Clarendon," for the gov- 
ernment of the Church. Everybody excepting Becket 
promptly signed them. One cannot help feeling that in 
this case the king had justice on his side, for instead of a 
member of the clergy receiving lighter punishment for 
the commission of crime than is meted out to other per- 
sons, his punishment ought really to be greater, since he 
assumes to be the teacher of men, and therefore sins 
against greater light. The king enforced the new laws, 
and as proof of their wisdom I will quote the words of a 
champion of the Church: " Then was seen the mournful 
spectacle of priests and deacons who had committed mur- 
der, manslaughter, robbery, theft, and other crimes, car- 
ried in carts before the commissioners and punished as 
though they were ordinary men." 



Plantag-enets. 85 



o 



By this time the king liad become the deadly enemy 
of his former favorite. Determined to ruin him, he sum- 
moned him before a council at Northampton, where he 
charged him with high treason and demanded a large 
sum of money from him. There was little or no founda- 
tion for these charges, and Becket refused to acknowledge 
the jurisdiction of the council, and said he would appeal 
to the Pope. One of the bishops was so indignant at his 
conduct that he picked up one of the rushes with which 
it was the custom to strew the floors in place of a carpet, 
and flung it at the head of the archbishop as he was 
walking out of the room, cross in hand. At the same 
time he called "Traitor!" whereupon the archbishop 
turned about, looked him sternly in the face, and said: 
"If I were not a churchman, I would chastise you with 
my sword as you deserve!" and it was a fortunate thing 
for the bishop that Becket was a churchman. 

Knowing his life was in danger, Becket, acting on the 
advice of friends, secretly left the country and made his 
way to Flanders. The king took his revenge by seizing 
the revenues of the archbishop and banishing all his 
relatives and servants, numbering several hundred. The 
Pope and French king were Becket's warm friends, and, 
thus encouraged, he formally cursed and excommunicated 
all who had supported the Constitutions of Clarendon, 
mentioning many of the noblemen by name, and strongly 
hinting at the king himself. 

When Henry learned of this he foamed with rage. 
He caused all the ports and coasts of England to be 
closely watched, to keep out any letters of interdict that 

7 — Ellis' England, 



86 Young People's History of England. 

might be brought into his kingdom. Henry, who wished 
to associate his son Prince Henry with him in the govern- 
ment, had him crowned at Westminster by the Archbishop 
of York, the Bishops of London and Salisbury assisting. 
The coronation of a king by right belonged to the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, who denounced the proceeding as 
an outrage against Christianity and the Church. So much 
resentment showed itself that Henry, learning that the 
King of France was urging the Pope to take action, de- 
cided that the best thing for him to do was to recall 
Becket. Accordingly he went to the Continent and per- 
suaded him to return. The archbishop had been absent 
for seven years. 

There was no sincerity in their reconciliation. Each 
hated the other as intensely as before, and trouble was 
sure to come. The undaunted Becket excommunicated 
the Archbishop of York and his assistant bishops who 
had taken part in the coronation of Prince Henry. The 
king, in an outburst of passion, exclaimed: "Is there no 
one who will relieve me of this pestilent man?" 

Among those who heard these fateful words were four 
knights, who looked at one another significantly. Then 
they passed out, whispered together, and, mounting their 
horses, rode toward Canterbury. On the afternoon of 
December 29, 1170, they, with twelve followers, and all 
arrayed in armor, rode up to the archbishop's palace. 
Finding the gates barred, they began hewing at them 
with their battle-axes. Becket's friends urged him to 
take refuge in the church, but he refused until he heard 
the chanting of vespers. "Now," said he, "my duty 



Plantagenets. 87 

calls me thither," and he passed inside. With calm and 
stately dignity, and preceded by his cross-bearer, lie 
walked into the cloisters and moved to the cathedral. His 
followers wished to bar the doors, but this he would not 
permit. He reached the steps leading to the choir, when 
a knight, followed by armed men, appeared at the further 
end of the church and called out, "Where is the 
traitor?" 

It was almost dark in the cathedral, with only a lamp 
here and there glimmering in front of a shrine. It would 
have been easy for Becket to find a hiding-place, but he 
stood immovable. Then the same frightful voice called 
out: "Where is the archbishop?" Becket firmly an- 
swered: "Here am I, an archbishop, but no traitor, ready 
to suffer in my Saviour's name." 

Then the knights advanced, but the first who laid 
hands on the archbishop was flung off so violently that 
he came near falling to the floor. In a moment Becket 
was badly wounded, and, knowing his end was near, he 
clasped his hands, bowed his head and commended his 
soul to God. The assassins closed upon him, and a min- 
ute later the Archbishop of Canterbury lay dead at the 
foot of a column, standing in what has ever since been 
known as "The Transept of the Martyrdom," in the 
cathedral church of Canterbury. 

This awful crime sent a thrill of horror throughout 
Christendom. The Pope proclaimed Becket a saint, and 
the English people looked upon him as a martyr for 
them. The cathedral was hung in mourning, and 
Becket's shrine became the most famous in England. 



88 Young People's History of England. 

King Henry was so terrified by the excitement that he 
gave up all attempt to enforce the Constitutions of Claren- 
don. As his reign drew to a close, he dictated a will by 
which he bequeathed England and Normandy to Prince 
Henry, and made provisions for his sons Geoffrey and 
Richard. To John, the youngest, he gave no territory, 
but asked Henry to present him with several castles, and 
Henry refused to give him a single one. 

All the four brothers hated one another, and not only 
fought among themselves, but against the king, their 
wicked mother being the one who constantly stirred them 
up to strife. The first revolt broke out in Normandy. 
While engaged in putting it down, the king received 
word that the English barons had rebelled against him. 
Believing that his new troubles were a punishment for the 
murder of Becket, he did j^nance by walking several 
miles barefoot over a flinty road to the tomb, and there 
kneeling and receiving a beating from the rods of the 
priests. Under the promise of doing away with all laws 
hostile to the Church, the Pope in 1172 granted Henry 
absolution. 

One act that did much to gain the good-will of the Pope 
was King Henry's conquest of Ireland. The people there 
had been converted to Christianity by St. Patrick, a 
Scotch bishop, who preached and labored among them 
in the fifth century. They were earnest and warm- 
hearted, sent out many missionaries, and Ireland was soon 
noted not only for its pious men but for its learned ones. 
The instructor of Alfred the Great was an Irishman, and 
Ireland's schools became famous throughout Europe. The 




The Archbishop lay dead at the foot of a column." 



(89) 



90 Young People's History of England. 

Christian church there, however, would not acknowledge 
the authority of the Pope, and the Roman pontiff was 
quite willing to sanction any attempt to bring the inhab- 
itants under subjection. 

Ireland at that time was divided into five kingdoms — 
Desmond, Thomond, Connaught, Ulster and Leinster. 
Like true Irishmen, these five kings and their followers 
were continually fighting one another, and Henry was 
shrewd enough to take up the cause of one of the five, 
who, having been driven from his native land, came over 
to England to secure an ally. Henry was too busy with 
his wars against France to go in person to Ireland, but 
told his noble vassals they were at liberty to attack the 
country. The Earl of Pembroke, surnamed Strongbow, 
invaded Ireland with a powerful army, restored the exiled 
king to authority, and with much cruelty conquered the 
other provinces. Henry visited Ireland in 1171, made 
the Earl of Pembroke king of the country, and demanded 
the submission of the Irish people. Leinster and Minister 
obeyed, but the wild Irishmen among the marshes and 
mountains of Ulster and Connaught refused to bow their 
heads to the foreign invaders. The new kingdom thus 
secured by Henry included only the eastern half of the 
island. In 1172, therefore, a new church was brought 
under the dominion of Rome, and a new province won 
for the crown of England. 

The last years of Henry's reign were clouded by 
domestic sorrow. His wife was ambitious and wicked, 
and she stirred up her sons Henry, Geoffrey and Richard 
to continual rebellion. In 1187, tidings came from the 



Plantagenets. 91 

Holy Land that the Mohammedans had taken Jerusalem 
from the Christians, and that the Pope, Gregory VIII. , 
had died of grief over the news. Clement III., his suc- 
cessor, immediately called upon the Christians for a second 
crusade. The call was enthusiastically answered, among 
the most ardent being Henry of England, Philip of 
France, and Richard, then the eldest son of the English 
king, Henry and Geoffrey having died some years before. 
Ere the preparations could be completed, Richard joined 
the French king in a war against his father. In the year 
1189, Henry made peace with Richard, and being now 
old and feeble, he was more inclined to be foronvin<r of 
his enemies than in earlier years. All through those sad 
days his single consolation was his faith and confidence 
in his youngest son John. He was sure that no matter 
how ungrateful and bitter his wife and other children 
might become, the affection and loyalty of John could 
never be shaken. 

But when a list of those to whom he was to issue 
pardon was brought to him, the very first name upon 
which his e^ves rested was that of his youngest son. His 
heart was broken. "Now," he exclaimed sorrowfully, 
"let the world go as it will ; I have no longer any care 
for it or for myself." Two days later the weary monarch 
died, and if a broken heart ever caused the death of a 
person, it surely brought Henry II. of England to the 
grave. 



CHAPTER VI. 

PLANT AGENETS (CONTINUED) 1154-1399. 
RICHARD I., THE LION-HEARTED (1189-1199). 

SEVERAL times in the preceding pages I have re- 
ferred to the Crusades. While their particular 
history belongs to the records of other countries 
than England, it is proper that yon should learn some- 
thing about them in this place. The name is derived 
from the sacred symbol of the cross, which was borne by 
the warriors engaged in the attempt to recapture Pales- 
tine, or the Holy Land, from the infidels. Thus the 
white cross on a red ground stood for France; the red 
cross on a white ground for England. 

The principal crusades for the conquest of Palestine 
were: The first, in 1096, caused by the preaching of 
Peter the Hermit and the encouragement of Pope Urban 
J I. The second, in 1147; the third, in 1189; the fourth, 
in 1203; the fifth, in 1228; the sixth, in 1249; the sev- 
enth, in 1269. The particulars of these crusades, as I 
have said, belong to the history of other countries, but 
there was one in which England acted a leading part 
That was the third crusade, in 1189, the cause for which 
was the capture of Jerusalem by Sultan Saladin, one of 
the most remarkable leaders that ever fought under the 

(92) 



Plantagenets. 93 

banner of the Crescent. This crusade was led by Fred- 
erick (Barbarossa) of Germany, Philip Augustus of 
France, and by Richard Coeur de Lion of England, or 
Richard the Lion-hearted. He was the son of Henry II., 
and helped to break his heart by his unfilial conduct. 

Now Richard was one of the most prodigious fighters 
that ever lived. The head of his battle-axe, still pre- 
served, weighed twenty pounds, and when he whirled his 
mighty two-edged sword about his head and brought it 
down upon a foe, it was with the power of Hercules. No 
wonder his enemies, who happened to be just beyond his 
reach in battle, sometimes stopped fighting in sheer as- 
tonishment and stared at his marvelous work. By and 
by I shall have something to tell you about some of the 
exploits of this wonderful man in Palestine. 

Richard was on the Continent when his father died. 
Returning to England, he was crowned with great pomp 
and ceremony. One of the first things he did was to 
liberate his mother, who had been imprisoned by his 
father for a long time at Winchester, and then, recalling 
his vow to join in the third crusade, he made his prepa- 
rations to go to the Holy Land to fight for its recovery 
from the infidels. 

It was necessary, above all things, to raise a good deal 
of money, and Richard was not troubled by any scruples 
as to how he raised it. He sold offices, dignities, lands, 
castles and towns right and left that belonged to the 
crown of England, and when one of his courtiers ex- 
pressed his surprise, Richard replied that he would sell 
the city of London itself if he could find a purchaser. 



94 Young People's History of England. 

One of the most atrocious crimes committed by the 
king and his nobles was their treatment of the Jews. 
These people, from time immemorial, had control of most 
of the wealth of the kingdom. They were compelled to 
make large loans to the valiant knights of the Cross, 
whose favorite method of wiping out the debt was by 
wiping out the Jews themselves. Hundreds were killed 
with no more compunction than if they were so many 
vagrant dogs. 

With so vast a treasury house to draw upon, King 
Richard in time obtained all the money he needed, and 
with his imposing array of knights and soldiers embarked 
for the Holy Land. The combined French and English 
armies numbered one hundred thousand men. 

Now, you will bear in mind that this immense force, 
including its nobles and knights, had started for a distant 
country for the purpose of rescuing it from the infidels. 
It was in Palestine that the Saviour of mankind was 
born, and it does seem as if it ought to have remained in 
the possession of those who believed in His blessed teach- 
ings ; but it was held by the Mussulmans, who believed in 
Mohammed, and looked upon Christians as infidels. 
Nothing could be more opposed to the doctrines of the 
Saviour than the wrangling and fighting over the ground 
where he had lived and died ; but the grimmest farce of 
the whole amazing business was the claim of the men to 
be Christians, who had set out upon a holy mission. They 
professed to regard it as such, though it is hard to under- 
stand how any one of them could have called himself a 
Christian without a grin over the jest. 



Plantagenets. 95 

They gambled, drank, fought, quarreled and commit- 
ted every vile crime that opportunity allowed them to 
commit. The whole crusade was a vast debauch ; and 
what is thus said of the Third Crusade may be truthfully 
said of every one of them. All these things took place 
many hundreds of years since, and the crusaders crum- 
bled to dust long ago. Like many incidents of which we 
read, the great lapse of time has thrown a halo around 
them. In some countries, when the vicious, thieving 
crusaders hove in sight, like a countless mob of tramps, 
covering hundreds of square miles of country, the peas- 
ants combined and fought them off with pitchforks, clubs 
and stones. They were intolerable nuisances, and after 
the pests had passed and disappeared in the dust of the 
horizon, the inhabitants of the countries who found their 
estates partly or wholly ruined by the voracious thieves 
thanked God and prayed that they might never see an- 
other of the hated crusaders. 

And yet there was a great deal of romantic adventure 
for many of the knights after reaching the Holy Land. 
They had many stirring incidents on their way thither, 
and on the 8th of June, 1191, the fleet with all of them 
on board entered the bay of Acre amid the strains of 
martial music and the glad shouts of the Christian army, 
who had been anxiously expecting them for a long time. 

There was sore need of these powerful reinforcements, 
for the army in waiting had been besieging the town of 
Acre for nearly two years. It still held out, and the 
remarkable Saladin had so surrounded the besiegers that 
they were in imminent danger of capture or destruction; 



96 Young People's History of England. 

but four days after the arrival of Richard, Acre surren- 
dered. This tremendous fighter was now in his element, 
and he fought with a splendor the world never saw sur- 
passed. It is said that long years after he had left the 
Holy Land, if the horse of a Syrian showed fright, his 
rider would exclaim: "Dost thou think King Richard is 
hidden behind that rock?" 

Richard recovered Jaffa, the ancient Joppa of the 
Bible, and rebuilt Ascalon, toiling like a common laborer 
on the walls. He planted strong forts along the coast of 
Palestine, from Gaza to Acre, and performed prodigies 
of valor, such as no other man in Christendom could 
equal, but the dream of his life melted away, for he was 
never able to enter Jerusalem and rescue the Holy Sepul- 
chre itself from the infidel. 

And the main cause why he failed was the wonderful 
Saladin, though Richard's overbearing disposition caused 
the French king to withdraw his forces and to return 
home. The most graphic and attractive picture of those 
days is that given in Sir Walter Scott's story, "The 
Talisman." Of course, there is much romance in this 
history, but it is highly instructive. When Saladin and 
King Richard were not fighting each other, they were as 
chivalrous as brothers. Either would have perished be- 
fore breaking his pledge to the other. These two men 
were striking types of their respective civilizations. 
Richard was massive, ponderous, and resistless in his 
strength; Saladin was small, wiry, alert, keen, with light- 
ning-like quickness of movement. Richard could have 
split him from crown to foot had he been able to land a 



Plantagenets. 



97 



blow ; but 
Sal ad in, o n 
their fi r s t 
raeetin g, 
dodged him 
every time, 
and w h e n 
the exasper- 
ated king 
seized h i m 
by the girdle 
of his waist 
and brought 
d o w n his 
crushin g 
s w o r d, be- 
ll o 1 d ! it 
whizzed 
through air, 
for the cun- 
ning Asiatic 
had slipped 
off his belt, 
a n d s m i 1- 
i n g 1 y con- 
fronted him 
a few paces 
away. 

U n cl e r 
the flaming 




King Richard I. at Acre. 



98 Young People's History of England. 

sun of that sandy waste the rugged health of Richard 
gave way, and he was stretched on a bed by a dangerous 
fever. The English physicians could do nothing, and 
Saladin asked the privilege of sending one of his own 
medical men to his help. Knowing that his noble foe 
could be fully trusted, the king gladly accepted the offer, 
and the physician was allowed to enter the English camp 
at night, and was conducted to the side of the stricken 
knight, to whom he ministered with such skill that he 
soon recovered, and was able to begin fighting again. It 
was afterward learned that the Syrian doctor who had 
thus been the means of restoring the King of England to 
health was Saladin himself. 

Unable to recover the Holy Sepulchre, though hoping 
to do so after a time, the king was obliged to return to 
England, where he had left the government in the hands 
of a man named Longchamp. Knowing the treacherous 
character of his brother John, Richard gave him no au- 
thority, but presented him with immense possessions, both 
in England and in France. This, however, did not pre- 
vent Prince John from acting out his nature, which was 
inconceivably base. You have learned a good deal about 
the villainy of kings, princes and nobles, but I am sure 
that when you come to learn the history of John, brother 
of Richard the Lion-hearted, you will agree with me that 
there was none worse than he. 

Philip of France had been the sworn friend of Richard 
during the Crusades, and though they quarrelled while in 
Palestine (and I fear the fault was that of the impatient 
Richard), Philip gave his promise not to make war upon 



Plantagenets. 



99 



Eng- 



England or invade any of Richard's territory while he 
was engaged in the Crusades ; but hardly had Philip 
reached home when he 
joined the recreant bro- 
ther John in his treacher- 
ous designs against 
land. 

It was this news that 
decided Richard to leave 
the Holy Land and go 
home. He asked Saladin 
to make a truce, and that 
chivalrous foe not only 
agreed to it at once, but 
allowed Richard to set the 
time it should last. The 
odd agreement was made 
that it should continue 
for three years, three 
months, three weeks, three 
days and three hours, and 
you need not be told that 
Saladin kept his pledge 
in spirit and letter. 

Now it had been easy 
enough for Richard to get 
away from England, but 
it was no easy task fur him to return thither. In his 
general conduct he was a brute, too ignorant to write his 
name, and with no more consideration for those he came in 




Richard I. and his Queen Berengaria. 

From his tomb at Fontevrault and hex* tomb 

at Espan. 



LofC. 



100 Young People's History of England. 

contact with than a dog. He had enemies almost every- 
where. The King of France was already in arms against 
him ; he had lifted the Duke of Austria clear of the 
ground with one kick of his mighty foot, by way of end- 
ing a verbal discussion when they were in Palestine, and 
the Emperor of Germany felt almost as resentful as if it 
had been his own person that received the indignity. 

After considering the matter, Richard decided that 
the safest route home was to sail up the Gulf of Venice, 
and to pass thence through Styria to some friendly Ger- 
man port, from which he could embark for England. 
Circumstances, however, threw him out of this route, and 
he finally found himself in Vienna, the capital of his 
bitterest enemy, the Duke of Austria. Rumors had al- 
ready reached that country that the English king was 
working his way homeward in disguise, and despite all 
the care he used, he was recognized and thrown into 
prison by the Duke of Austria. 

When the German emperor learned of this he was 
indignant and forced the duke to give up his captive, 
saying that a king should not be held prisoner by any 
one of lower rank than emperor. Then for many months 
anxious England knew not what had become of their 
great king. At such times all kinds of reports find be- 
lievers. Some said he had fallen into the hands of the 
Moors; others that he had been assassinated ; while others 
insisted that he had been seen in Italy, though the ma- 
jority suspected the truth, that he was imprisoned some- 
where in Germany. 

A very pretty story is told of the way in which 



Plantagenets. 



101 



m i 



Richard's place of imprisonment was discovered, 
favorite page, 
Blondel b y 
name, set out 
o n a w a n- 
dering t o u r 
through Ge I'- 
ll] any i n 
search of his 
lost master. 
One day he 
sat down to 
rest in front 
of a gloomy 
castle and be- 
gan playing 



His 





_ ; 

■- 

€ 
: 



on his guitar, 
while he sang 
one of the 
troubadour 
songs of 
whic h he 
knew his 
royal master 
was fond. He 
sang a few 
lines a n d 
paused, for 
from behind 
one of the windows far above his head came back 

8— Ellis' England, 



Bloudel seeking Richard 



the 



102 Young People's History of England. 

voice of another, singing the same song, and the voice he 
recognized as that of Richard the Lion-hearted, who had 
been missing for more than a year. 

Whether this winsome story is true or not, it is cer- 
tain that the secret of the English king's imprisonment 
became known, and not only England but nearly all of 
Europe was filled with indignation. The exertions of 
the queen mother and the urgency of the Pope prevailed. 
After spending nearly two years in captivity, during 
which Philip of France strove strenuously to prevent his 
release, Richard was set free upon the payment by Eng- 
land of a ransom of one hundred thousand marks, a sum 
equivalent nominally to $32,000, but which in those days 
represented perhaps five times that amount. 

When Philip found that King Richard had been re- 
leased he hurriedly wrote to John : " Take care of your- 
self, for the devil has been unchained." 

Richard was received by his people with the wildest 
demonstrations of joy, for they were proud of his career 
as a Crusader, and hoped for a strong and stable gov- 
ernment at home. One man, however, trembled over his 
return ; he was Prince John, who obtained the interces- 
sion of Queen Eleanor, and, falling on his knees before 
the king, implored his forgiveness. "It is granted as 
easily," replied Richard, "as you will forget it." 

But Richard would not forgive the French king; and 
as soon as he had been crowned anew at Winchester he 
made war upon him with great fury. With an occasional 
truce, it lasted from 1195 to 1199. In the latter year 
Richard was besieging one of his rebellious vassals in 



Plantagenets. 103 

his castle, and was making ready to carry it by storm, 
when one of the defenders saw from his post on the ram- 
parts the king riding by, attended only by his chief 
officer, both attentively studying the castle. The young 
man drew his arrow to the head, set his teeth, took care- 
ful aim, and muttered the prayer, "God speed my arrow 
true!" Then the string twanged and the head of the 
missile was buried deeply in Richard's shoulder. 

The king did not think the wound dangerous, but it 
was so severe that he retired to his tent and ordered the 
assault to be made without him. The castle was taken 
and every man hanged, as Richard swore they should 
be, with the exception of the youth who had launched 
the fatal arrow. He was reserved to await the king's 
pleasure. 

Little was known of the art of surgery in those days, 
and it soon became apparent that the wound of the king 
was mortal. He ordered the prisoner to be brought into 
his tent. He was heavily loaded with chains and looked 
steadily into the face of the king, who frowned upon him. 

"Knave," said he, "what have I done to thee that 
thou shouldst take my life ?" 

"What hast thou done to me?" bitterly repeated the 
prisoner; "with thine own hands thou hast killed my 
father and two brothers; thou wouldst have hanged me; 
I am ready to die by any torture thou wilt, for I am sus- 
tained by the consolation that nothing can save thee from 
the death thou hast so well earned." 

The two looked steadily at each other for a full minute, 
and then (taking lesson, perhaps, from his chivalric infi- 



104 Young People's History of England. 

del instructor Saladin) the king said : 

" I forgive thee ;" and turning to the officer who was in 
his company when he received his hurt, he added : "Take 
off his chains and let him depart unharmed." 




I forgive thee. Take off his chains." 



Then Richard the Lion-hearted sank back, and soon 
afterward died at the age of forty-two years. His last 
command was disobeyed, for the young man who had 
caused his death was flayed alive and then hanged. 

Now it must be remembered that great and far-reaching 



Plantagenets. 105 



"o 



good resulted from the absurd Crusades, for the nations 
of the West learned that those of the East were much in 
advance of them in real civilization. England gained its 
first knowledge of Plato and Aristotle from Mohammedan 
teachers, as well as the elements of arithmetic, algebra 
and astronomy. This knowledge gave a new impulse 
to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, conferred 
many benefits, and removed many evils. In short, England 
secured a greater degree of political liberty, particularly 
in the case of towns, and received a distinct and powerful 
educational impulse. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PLANTAGENETS (CONTINUED) llf54-1399. 
JOHN, HENRY III., EDWARD I. (1199-1307). 

JOHN was thirty-two years old when he became King 
of England. His handsome little nephew, Arthur, 
son of his dead elder brother Geoffrey, was the 
rightful heir to the throne, but you know such trifling 
matters do not count among the highest in the land. 
John would not have hesitated to kill a hundred heirs, 
had they stood in his way, for, as I have said, the whole 
history of the mighty empire of Great Britain contains 
the record of no more despicable wretch than that of 
John, who ruled from 1199 to 1216. 



106 Young People's History of England. 

The King of France took the part of Arthur, and the 
two nations were at war for three years, during which the 
provinces of Brittany and Normandy were desolated. 
While King Philip pretended to be a friend of Arthur, 
he really cared nothing for him, and made peace when 
he thought it to his interest to do so, without the slightest 
regard for the young heir to the throne. He persuaded 
the boy that he could easily conquer the army of his 
uncle, because the English would rally around him. In 
his youth and inexperience the lad believed him and 
made the attempt, with the result that in 1202 Arthur 
was taken prisoner by his uncle. 

One day, while the boy was pining in a great castle 
which was his prison, the door gently opened, and there 
stood the grim king before him. Surveying Arthur for 
a moment, he began talking to him as softly and kindly 
as if he were his mother. He assured his nephew that 
he was his true friend, but the sturdy little fellow insisted 
that he should prove it by giving him the throne to which 
no one had so good a title as he. Still professing friend- 
ship, the king bade him good-day and passed out, taking 
care, however, to lock the massive door, so that the little 
fellow could not follow him. 

This talk between uncle and nephew roused all the 
deviltry in the heart of the king, who felt that he could 
never be secure so long as the boy lived. So he talked 
the matter over with a number of his nobles as wicked as 
he, and asked them as to the best way of getting rid of 
the youth. The replies were shocking. Some proposed 
that his eyes should be put out and he kept in prison ; others 



Plantagenets. 



107 



that he should be stabbed to death, or hanged or poisoned. 
Among them all there was not one who dared to say, even 
if he had wished it, that the proper thing to do was to give 
Arthur his rights. 




Prince Arthur pleading with Hubert de Bourg. 

The hideous king always felt uneasy when Arthur 
looked up to him with his soft, accusing eyes, and he liked 
the idea of having them put out, so that they could not meet 
his with their reproachful expression, when necessary 



108 Young People's History of England. 

for the monarch to see the youth. So he sent a couple 
of ruffians to the castle with orders to burn out Arthur's 
eyes. When the boy learned what they meant to do he 
pleaded pitifully with them not to make him blind, and 
turned to the warden, praying that he would save him 
from the awful torture. The heart of this warden, Hubert 
de Bourg, was wrung with pity, and he sent the wretches 
away without allowing them to harm the boy. 

Then King John, in his disappointment, asked one of 
his men to go to the castle and stab the young prisoner 
to death, but the indignant officer replied : "I am a gen- 
tleman, and not an executioner." 

But it is easy for a king to secure evil men to do 
his will, no matter how wicked it may be, and one of 
these villains went to the castle with the resolve to slay 
the prisoner. When he appeared, Hubert asked him his 
business, and he told him. "Go back to the king and 
tell him I will kill the prince myself," said the warden, 
who had not the slightest intention of doing anything of 
the kind. 

Well convinced of this, King John had Arthur taken 
to another castle in Iiouen, where the jailer was a tool 
of the horrible king. One night, when Arthur lay 
asleep in his bed, the jailer awoke him and told him to 
come down the staircase to the foot of the tower. Won- 
dering what it could mean, the boy dressed himself and 
obeyed. All was pitchy darkness when they reached the 
bottom of the winding stairs, and the cold wind from the 
river blew in their faces. The jailer dropped his torch, 
which partly lit up the gloom, and put it out by stepping 



Plantagenets. 109 

on it. Some one caught hold of Arthur's arm and drew 
him into a small boat that was waiting. 

In this boat sat his uncle and one man. The boy 
now knew the dreadful meaning of it all, and cried and 
begged his uncle not to kill him, promising to do any- 
thing that was wanted of him if the king would only 
spare his life. And then the two monsters stabbed poor 
Arthur to death, weighted his body with stones, and flung 
it into the Seine. After this, can you deny that a viler 
wretch than King John never lived ? 

Young Arthur was murdered in 1203, and three 
years later King John was driven out of France ; and of 
the Duchy of Normandy, which for nearly three hun- 
dred years had belonged to the English kings, not a rod 
of land remained. Not only was John unspeakably 
brutal, but in some instances he acted like a fool, for, 
after earning the contempt of his own people and the 
hostility of the King of France, he made an enemy of 
Pope Innocent III., who had named Stephen Langton, a 
wise and good Englishman, as Archbishop of Canter- 
bury. The king refused to make him archbishop, and 
drove the monks of Canterbury out of the country, because 
they supported the Pope. The indignant pontiff sent three 
messengers or legates to England, bearing a terrifying 
message with them. This is what I have already referred 
to as an Interdict, and from that clay all the churches and 
convents were closed; no bells called the people to wor- 
ship; no marriages were allowed to take place; the dead 
were buried in pits without any religious services, and no 
priest was permitted to exercise the functions of his office. 



110 Young People's History of England. 

But what cared John ? He chuckled and went on in 
his evil ways. He ground the people to the dust with 
taxes, robbed them of their lands, killed the meek, suffer- 
ing peasants whenever he felt in a murderous mood, which 
was pretty nearly all the time, and ruled with a cruelty 
which the devil himself could not have surpassed. 

But terrible as was the weapon used by the Pope he 
had a still more terrible one in reserve, and he now 
brought it into play. He solemnly declared King John 
dethroned. Not only were all of the king's subjects re- 
lieved of allegiance to him, but a blessing was pronounced 
upon any one who would take his life. This was in 
1213. 

And now for the first time King John was really 
scared. Such men are always cowards, and he believed 
that the fate he had dealt to poor little Arthur would 
soon be his unless he made peace with the Pope, and he 
did so in haste and with the meekness of a lamb. He 
laid his crown at the feet of the Pope's legate, agreed to 
make Langton Archbishop of Canterbury, and promised 
that he and his heirs would pay a liberal rental each year 
to the Pope, who then took off the Interdict. 

Hitherto the people of England had looked upon the 
barons as their oppressors and counted uj)on the king to 
rid the country of them ; but now it was the barons who, 
wearied with the intolerable cruelty of the king, united 
to dethrone him. The leading barons held a meeting 
one day in London, at which Langton was present, and 
solemnly leagued themselves together, under a new code 
of laws, which they resolved the king should be com- 



Planta^enets. 



ni 



petted to sign. They were supported so ardently by 




Kiuu John dethroned 



lie Pope. 



every one that, much as the king disliked to do so, he 
was forced to put his name to the pledge. This was 



112 Young People's History of England. 



on the 15th of June, 1215, in a meadow, known as 
Runny mede, on the banks of the Thames. 

This paper, one of 




the 



most important 
ever framed, was the 
Magna Gharta of Eng- 
land. By it King John 
promised to respect the 
liberty of the Church, 
to take no money from 
the people without 
leave of the Great 
Council of the realm, 
and neither to impri- 
son nor banish any 
freeman " except by 
the lawful judgment 
of his peers, or by the 
law of the land." The 
Magna Charta con- 
tained sixty-three arti- 
cles, most of which, in 
the course of time, 
have become obsolete, 
but three possess an 
imperishable value to 
the people of England. 
These are : That no 
free man shall be imprisoned or proceeded against except 
by his peers, or the law of the land ; that justice shall 



Effigies of King John and his wife Isahella. 

From his monument in Worcester Cathedral and 

her monument at Fontevrault. 



Plantagenets. 113 

neither be sold, denied, nor delayed; that all dues from 
the people to the king, unless otherwise clearly specified, 
shall be imposed only with the consent of the National 
Council. 

For the first time in England the interests of all classes 
were protected, and for the first time, too, the English 
people became a united body in the constitutional history 
of the country. So precious was the Magna Charta, that 
within the following two hundred years it was confirmed 
no less than thirty-seven times. 

The following is a paragraph from Magna Charta : 

d Jcutoruec (\\f am ImfnX emxa^mi 
tt)jljp Life ^fmv\ymwg> nig Iujwx tmP. 

The same in Roman letters. 
Nullus liber homo capiatur, vel imprisonetur, aut dissaisiatur, aut utlagetur, out exule- 
fair, aut aliquo modo destruatur ; nee super eum ibimus, uec super eum mittemus, nisi per 
legale judicium parium suorum, vel per legem terrae. 

Translation. 
No freeman sball be taken, or imprisoned, or disseised, or outlawed, or banished, 01 any 
ways destroyed; nor will we pass upon him, nor will we send upon him, unless by the 
lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. 

John, having signed this important pledge, immediately 
set to work to destroy it. He hired foreign soldiers to 
crush his English subjects. The barons invited Louis, 
son of the French king, to come over and rule them, and 



114 Young People's History of England. 

he landed with an army and desolating war broke out 
again. John met with some successes, but in the midst 
of them, while at Swinestead Abbey (well named, it 
would seem), he stuffed himself so full of pears, peaches 
and new cider that he was seized with a fever, and being 
carried on a litter to the Castle of Newark upon Trent, 
he died on the 18th of October, in the forty- ninth year 
of his age and the seventeenth of his base reign. 

The Pope took the part of England against the French 
princes and barons, and upon the death of John the 
Pope's legate crowned his eldest son, Henry, who was 
only ten years old. Being too young to rule, Earl Pem- 
broke was appointed Protector of the kingdom. He 
showed so much firmness and wisdom that at the end of 
a year Prince Louis gave up all hope of obtaining the 
crown and went back to France. Soon afterward the 
Earl of Pembroke died (1223), and Henry became real 
king. 

Like so many of his predecessors, he proved a worth- 
less nuisance. He was weak, with little ability, and filled 
his court with foreign favorites, who poisoned his mind 
against the wise and good men whom he ought to have 
been glad to have for his advisers. In 1236 he married 
Eleanor, daughter of the Count of Provence, a land by 
the Mediterranean Sea. She came to England with a 
swarm of French followers, upon whom the king lavished 
money and offices. 

The name of parliament became common as applied 
to the King's Council, and Henry III. often called it to- 
gether and demanded money of the body for the wars he 



Plantagenets. 



115 



was prosecuting against France. Parliament granted the 

supplies on condition that the king should observe the 

Magna Charta and dismiss his foreign 

favorites. At a solemn meeting of the 

barons, prelates and abbots at Westmin- 
ster Hall, in 1253, the king said in an 

impressive voice : "So help me God ! I 

will keep these charters inviolate, as I 

am a man, as I am a Christian, as I am 

a knight, and as I am a king, crowned 

and anointed," and then he bent all his 

energies to breaking the vow. 

Henry's wars and extravagance piled 

up such a mountain of debts that in the 

end they amounted to more than $300, 

000,000. He wrung money out of the 

Jews, violated charters, and used every 
I means he could think of to extort funds. 
| Yet he thought he was a Christian, and 

built the grand cathedrals of Salisbury, 

Lincoln and Ely, and rebuilt the greater 
I part of Westminster Abbey as it stands 
| to-day. 

After a time the burdens became 
I greater than the people could bear, as 
j might well be the case when persons 

were dying by the hundred from starva- 
tion. In 1258 the chief barons, with the Earl of Leicester 

(les'ter) at their head, compelled Henry to place the control 

of the kingdom in the hands of twenty-four bishops and 




Effigy of Henry III. 
From his tomb in West- 
minster Abbey. 



116 Young People's History of England. 



and went with the King of France on one of the 



nobles, twelve selected by the king and twelve by the 
barons. This committee soon began wrangling, and civil 
war broke out. The barons were successful at first, and the 
Earl of Leicester made the king a prisoner; but in 1265 the 
royal cause gained a decisive victory at Evesham, where 
the Earl of Leicester was killed. Then Prince Edward, 
who had fought valiantly for his father, took the cross 

idiculous 
crusades to the Holy 
Land. Two years later 
his father died, at the age 
of sixty-eight years, dur- 
ing fifty-six of which he 
had been called King of 
England. 

Edward fought like a 
true knight in Palestine, 
and upon learning of the 
death of his father, made 
a ten years' truce with 
the Saracens, came home, 
and was crowned as Ed- 
ward I. He convened Parliament, which body declared 
that all previous laws should be impartially executed. 
By him Parliament was firmly established (1295) in its 
double form of Lords and Commons. 

Edward's great aim was to bring the whole island of 
Britain under one government. Wales only partially ac- 
knowledged the authority of the English king and Scot- 
land was practically independent. He began his work 




Seal of Robert Fitzwalter, showing a mounted 

knight in complete mail armor. 

Date, about 1265. 



Plantagenets. 



117 



first in Wales. Invading it with a strong army, he 
gained several victories and considered his task as done; 
but, to hold it, he built the splendid castles of Conway, 
Beaumaris, Harlech and Caernarvon, which were garri- 
soned with troops, ready to quell any revolt. In the cas- 
tle of Caernarvon the king's son Edward was born, and 
some years later was - .^ 

smsm 



im,j 






created Prince of 
Wales. Since then 
the eldest son of the 
King or Queen of 
England has always 
borne the title of the 
Prince of Wales. 

The king now 
turned his attention 
to Scotland, where 
two men claimed the 
throne, both of whom 
were of Norman de- 
scent. One was John 
Baliol, the othe r 
Robert Bruce, ances- 
tor of the one of the same name who afterward became 
famous in the history of Scotland. King Edward was 
asked to decide between the two claimants, and he made 
his decision in favor of Baliol, but insisted, before doing 
so, that he should acknowledge the overlordship of Eng- 
land. Baliol made the pledge, but he must have taken 
lessons of the English sovereigns, for he soon formed a 

9— Ellis' England. 










Great Seal of Edward I. 



118 Young People's History of England. 



secret treaty with France against Edward. This treaty 
was renewed again and again, through the space of three 
hundred years, and was the real cause of most of the wars 
in which England was involved during that period. 

Baliol 
soon made 
no secret of 
what he had 
done, and 
Edward 
marched 
into Scot- 
land with a 
strong force, 
bdued Baliol, 
d compelled 
e country to 
nowledgehim 
ruler. At the 
Abbey of Scone, 
r Perth, was 
e famous 
Stone of Des- 
y," upon which 




Parliament of Edward I. 



all the kings of 



Scotland were 
crowned. The English seized this and took it to West- 
minster Abbey, where it was enclosed in that ancient cor- 
onation chair which has been used by every English sov- 
ereign since that day. Before long, Scotland broke out 



Plantagenets. 



119 



in revolt. William Wallace placed himself at the head 
of his countrymen and fought with desperate valor, but 
in vain. At the end of eight years he was captured, 
hanged on Tower Hill as 
a traitor, and his head, 
crowned in mockery with a 
laurel wreath, was set on a 
pike on London Bridge. 

No darker stain marks 
the reign of Edward I. than 
his treatment of the Jews. 
They had been robbed and 
maltreated by former kings, 
but they were now stripped 
of their possessions and 
driven out of the country. 
Sixteen thousand miserable 
victims straggled forth, of 
whom hundreds died on the 
road. So completely was 
England cleared of them, 

that for more than four hundred years they do not appear 
in English history. 

Scotland revolted again, under the leadership of Rob- 
ert Bruce, grandson of the first of that name, and Edward 
set out to subdue the turbulent people. While on the 
way the king succumbed to a mortal illness, his last re- 
quest to his son William being that he should press the 
war to success. 




Kobert Bruce. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

PLANTAGENETS (CONCLUDED), 1154-1399. 
EDWARD II., EDWARD III., RICHARD II. (1307-1399). 

EDWARD I., as we have shown, was often cruel and 
unscrupulous, but lie had some good qualities, one 
of which was the rare kingly one of respecting 
his promises. His favorite motto was " Keep troth." 
Under him the excessive growth of Church property was 
checked, violence was better suppressed, Parliament was 
permanently organized, and the landed proprietors were 
made more directly responsible to the crown. 

Edward II. had no traits entitled to the least respect. 
He was weak and dissipated, and as soon as he came into 
power called back the worthless scamps whom his father 
had banished, and the new ruler made much of them, 
caring nothing for the good of his subjects. You cannot 
fail to have been impressed many times, while reading 
this history, with the immeasurable superiority of our 
republican form of government over the monarchical. 
We select the man for ruler whom a large number of the 
people consider the best qualified, and we give him no 
chance to become spoiled by staying too long in office, 
and if he dares to disobey the law we hustle him out in 
a hurry ; but in England and other countries, no matter 

(120) 



Plantagenets. 121 

tow vile, base, corrupt and stupid a man may be, he 
must become the ruler of the nation for no other reason 
than that his birth makes him heir to the throne, lhe 
redeeming feature of the business is that, in modern days, 
a king or queen or emperor is so hedged around by law 
that he hasn't much chance to work mischief; but what 
horrible work some of the wretches wrought a few hun- 
dred years ago ! . 

Edward II. made such a fool of himself with his 
foreign favorites that the nobles called a council at West- 
minster, took the government out of his hands and placed 
it in a body of barons and bishops. At the head of the 
committee was the king's cousin, the Earl of Lancaster. 
Because of the ordinance which they drew up for the 
management of affairs they received the name of the 
Lords Ordainers. Gaveston, the prime favorite of the 
kino- wlio was the real cause of the trouble, was sent out 
of the country for the third time, but the king coaxed 
him back and made him secretary of state. This so an- 
gered the Lords Ordainers that they determined to exile 
the detested foreigner to a country from which it would 
be impossible for him to return to plague them. I his 
they did by taking him from a castle where he was hid- 
ing and cutting oft his head. 

Over in Scotland, Robert Bruce saw that the weak- 
ness of King Edward was his golden opportunity, and he 
now determined to be king in fact as well as in name. He 
displayed not only wonderful bravery and skill but never 
lost heart. He was defeated again and again chased from 
place to place, and often compelled to hide for days and 



122 



Young People's History of England. 



nights in the depths of the woods ; he was sometimes 
hunted with bloodhounds and left without any compan- 
ions, but he was ready to die before yielding. On the 
field of Bannockburn, June 24, 1314, Bruce utterly de- 
feated the English army, numbering twice as many men as 
his own. Bruce led his men in such a furious charge that 




Brace's army before the battle of Bannockburn. 

the English became disordered, then threw down their arms 
and fled. The Scots pursued them for many miles and King 
Edward escaped with difficulty. The spoil which the vic- 
tors obtained was very great; the King's treasures, stores and 
provisions being left on the field. The number of the slain 
was 30,000. This victory won the independence of Scot- 



Plantagenets. 



123 



land, which was to last until the rival kingdoms were 
peaceably united under one crown, nearly three hundred 
years later. 

For the seven years following Ban- 
nockburn, the Earl of Lancaster ruled 
England. The weak Edward found 
comfort in new favorites, but finally 
Isabelle of France, his wife, turned 
against him. She joined a villain 
named Roger Mortimer, one of the 
leading barons, raised a force, slew the 
king's disreputable favorites (though 
they were not more so than the queen 
and Mortimer) and made Edward 
prisoner. 

Edward being secure in Kenil- 
worth Castle, the barons took steps to 
remove him from the throne. This 
was formally done, the king blubber- 
ing, fainting, and finally thanking the 
commissioners for appointing his eldest 
son Edward, fourteen years old, as his 
successor; but his final fate must 
awaken our sympathy. While a 
prisoner in Berkeley Castle, in Glou- 
cestershire, Roger Mortimer, with the 
help of Queen Isabelle, well called 
the "She Wolf of France," had Edward put to death with 
horrible cruelty. The impressive lesson of Edward II. 's 
career is that there is a greater power than the king, for, 




Effigy of Edward II. 

From his monument in 

Gloucester Cathedral. 



124 Young People's History of England. 

as has been shown, it could make and unmake the sov- 
ereign. Edward II. was the first ruler whom Parliament 
deposed. 

Until Edward III. became of age, the government, 
although nominally in the hands of a council, was really 
directed by the abominable Mortimer and Queen Isabelle, 
the murderers of his father. Edward made an attempt 
to conquer Scotland, but failed, and acknowledged its in- 
dependence. He did one thing, however, which won the 
gratitude of his countrymen. Mortimer and Queen Isa- 
belle were living at Nottingham Castle, where they took 
good care that all the passages were kept securely locked 
against their enemies ; but Edward bribed one of the 
keepers to lead him and a number of armed men through 
a secret way to the rooms of the couple. Seizing them, 
Mortimer was hanged, and the queen was placed in Castle 
Rising, Norfolk, where she remained a prisoner to the 
close of her life. 

We now come to the beginning of what is known in 
history as "The Hundred Years' War." You have 
learned enough about the kings of England and France 
to understand that they were always bitterly jealous of 
each other. There was no end to the disputes, and the 
principal occupation of the people for centuries was to 
fight, fight, kill, kill, until one grows sick of the horrible 
record. 

The indirect cause of this great war was the trade 
between England and Flanders, which at the time was a 
dependency of France. The prosperous towns in Flan- 
ders w r ere anxious to form an alliance with Edward against 




"^7d III. crossing the Somme in the face ef the Free, . ,,, -u.y ^ j 



126 



Young People's History of England. 




Eoyal arms of Edward 
III., adopted in 1340 
and used till about 
1405. 



Philip VI., the King of France, because of their greater 
commercial interests with England. Philip was equally 
eager for war, for lie coveted the country south of the 
Loire (loar), which was in the possession of the English 
kings, and he was waiting for a pretext 
to annex it to his domains. He formed 
an alliance with Scotland, thus threat- 
ening England on the north, and paid 
no heed to the remonstrances of Edward. 
Then Edward, having secured the sup- 
port of Ghent {goii, the n with a nasal 
sound), the chief Flemish city, claimed 
the crown of France, and went to war 
to secure it. This claim was based on 
the fact that through his mother Isabelle 
he was the nephew of the late King Charles IV., while 
the reigning monarch was only cousin. The claim was pre- 
posterous, but the aggressions of the French king would 
seem to have warranted retaliation on the part of Edward. 
For eight years the fighting went on without decisive 
results, and Edward had so 
hard a time to obtain funds 
that once he had to pawn his 
own and his wife's crown to 
raise money to pay his troops. 
He succeeded at last in equip- 
ping a large force, and with his 
only fifteen years old, invaded Normandy. Having rav- 
aged the country, he marched north to meet his Flemish 
aflies, but on the way to Calais (pronunciation, cal'is ; 




Ploughing, 1348. 



son, Prince Edward, 



Plantagenets. 



127 




Harrowing. A boy slinging stones 
at the birds. 



French, cal-mj) lie came upon the French near Crecy 
(cra'sy), 1346, where a great battle was fought. The 
French army was much greater in numbers, but the 
English victory was decisive. Prince Edward fought with 
a bravery and skill that com- 
manded the admiration of his 
veteran comrades. 

One of the most interest- 
ing facts connected with this 
battle is that it was the first 
time the English used can- 
non. They were very small, and it seems that the noise 
they created was more relied upon to terrify their enemies 
than was the actual execution. It is believed that the 
Chinese used gunpowder as early as 618 B.C., and firearms 
were employed by the Saracens in the eighth century, 
but they were not effective enough to attract attention. 
The invention of gunpowder is credited to Roger Bacon, 
who in 1270 announced its composition, but it was not 
until fifty years later that the proper method of making 

it was understood. 

Edward next laid siege to 
Calais, and captured it after a 
long; time. The city, regarded 
by many as the key of France, 
was held by the English for 
nearly two centuries. With the fall of the city a truce 
was made with France, and Edward returned to England. 
This truce was extended because of an awful pestilence, 
known as the Black Plague, which, starting in the heart 




Reaping, 1348. 



128 Young People's History of England. 

of China, spread over Europe during the years 1348 and 
1349. In the former year it appeared in London, and 
soon entered every province of the island. Fully one- 
half of the people died, and when it had spent its appall- 
ing force there were not enough people left to till the soil. 

It would seem as if this dreadful visitation ought to 
have satisfied all men who craved human life, but the war 
between England and France was renewed in 1355. Prince 
Edward, the Black Prince (so called because of the black 
color of his armor), proved himself one of the greatest 
warriors of his times. At Poitiers (almost pwi'te-a), in 
1356, he suddenly found his force of 10,000 men almost 
surrounded by a French army of 60,000, but so well did 
the Black Prince handle his troops that he defeated the 
French and made King John (the successor of Philip) 
and his son prisoners. Edward treated his royal captive 
with the greatest courtesy, and when they entered Lon- 
don the following year, the king rode on a superb cream- 
colored charger, with the prince at his side on a small 
])alfrey, in the character of a page. 

Edward, the Black Prince, finally broke down under 
his tremendous strain and continual exposure, and died 
in 1376. He was held in the highest regard not only for 
his remarkable military genius, but for his knightly char- 
acter, and one cannot help believing that had he been 
spared to ascend the throne of England he would have 
made one of its best and most illustrious sovereigns. His 
death was a great blow to the king, who survived him 
only a year, dying in June, 1377. 

The death of the Black Prince made his son Richard 



Plantagenets. 



129 



II. king when he was only eleven years old. This lad 
may have had the making of a noble man in him, but he 
was utterly spoiled by 
flattery, due mainly to 
the reverence felt for 
his father. Taking 
advantage of his 
youth, the Scots began 
crossing the border 
and plundering. Al- 
though the country 
was exhausted from 
the drain caused by 
previous wars, yet 
Parliament laid heavy 
taxes upon the sorely 
oppressed people. 

The one most de- 
tested was that of three 
groats imposed upon 
every person in the 
kingdom over fifteen 
years of age. The 
methods of collecting 
this poll-tax were 
often provoking. In 
Kent, one of the tax- 
gatherers entered the house of Walter the Tyler, more 
generally called Wat Tyler, and roughly demanded the 
tax for his daughter, who the mother said was under the 




Effigies of Edward III. and Queen Philippa. 
From their tombs in Westminster Abbey. 



130 Young People's History of England. 

age named. The tax-gatherer charged the mother with 
lying, and became so insulting that the father, in a fury, 
fell upon him and beat him to death. 

Wat Tyler's neighbors sympathized with him, and in 
a short time he found himself at the head of an immense 
mob, who set out for London. Their numbers rapidly 
increased until they included seventy-five thousand, and 
some say more. Naturally, when so many were rough 
and turbulent, they committed a great deal of violence on 
the road, and threw the peaceful folk into a panic. 

Pouring like the ocean into London, they destroyed the 
beautiful Savoy palace and tore down the residence of 
John of Gaunt, an uncle of the king, an ambitious man 
known as the Duke of Lancaster, and suspected by many 
of a design upon the throne of England. The mob con- 
tinued their destruction right and left, filling themselves 
with wine from the cellars of the wealthy, whom they 
would have shown scant mercy could they have laid 
hands on them. 

All these violent men professed a love for the young 
king, accusing his advisers and relatives of causing the 
whole mischief. Richard sent them word that he would 
meet them at Mile End and listen to their complaints. 
On the time appointed, some 60,000 rioters kept the ap- 
pointment, but Wat Tyler and many of the peasantry 
from Kent were not present. The king listened patiently 
to their demands, which were so reasonable that he prom- 
ised to grant them, and set a large number of clerks to 
work to prepare the proper papers. 

The next day, as the king was riding into Smithfield, 



Plan ta genets. 



131 



he met Wat Tyler and the other rebels from Kent. Tyler 
told his friends he would go forward and speak to the 
king. He rode boldly up, and it is said laid his hand on 
Richard's bridle, whereupon Walworth, the Mayor of 
London, drove his dagger into the throat of Tyler, who 
fell dying to the ground. His friends cried out : " We 
are betrayed !" and 



a fearful scene 
would have followed 
had not the king, 
with a readiness of 
wit unusual in oneof 
his rank, dashed for- 
ward and shouted : 
" What are you do- 
ing? I am your 
king and will be 
your leader !" The 
rebels were won 
over on the instant, 
and those who did 
not flee laid down 
their arms. 

But like the generality of rulers, Richard II. broke 
his pledge. He raised a powerful army, notified the 
rebels that their charters meant nothing and they must 
return to their old bondage, and then he caused fifteen 
hundred of the wretched fellows to be executed before his 
vengeance was satisfied. 

The time came when the scales fell from the eyes of 




Interior of the Hall at Peushurst, Kent ; showing 
the screen with minstrels' gallery over it, and the 
brazier for fire in the middle: built about 1340. 



132 Young People's History of England. 



the people and they understood the frightful misgovern- 
ment under which they suffered. In 1386 the formida- 
ble John of Gaunt went to Spain to fight for its crown, 
while the Duke of Gloucester, another uncle of Richard, 
compelled him to resign the government into the hands 

of a council of bishops and 
nobles. Much as he hated 
to do so, the king was forced 
to submit until 1389, when 
he again insisted upon his 




authority. While the Duke 



Carryin 



Scots 



led by Earl Douglas, 



of Gloucester was at the head 
of the government, the 
made a foray across the Eng- 
lish border, but were driven back by Henry Percy in 
August, 1388. It was the battle of Otterburn, on that 
day, which has been celebrated in the stirring ballad of 
Chevy C h a s e. 
Richard's day of 
revenge came in 
1397, when h e 
put to death his 
uncle, the Duke 
o f Gloucester, 
and other rela- 
tives who had opposed him, and a year later he banished 
his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, and 
the Duke of Norfolk. The Duke of Hereford was a son 
of John of Gaunt, who died in 1399. 

The next outrage of the king was to seize the estates 




State carriage of the fourteenth century, 1381. 



Plantagenets. 



133 



of the banished Bolingbroke, despite the protests of the 
Duke of York, the only surviving son of Edward III., 
who knew the act would endanger his crown. Boling- 




Eichard II. resigns the crown to Bolingbroke. 

broke, roused to fury by the wrongs put upon him, came 
back to England, and found Richard away in Ireland. 

The banished earl was welcomed by the great Earls of 
Northumberland and Westmoreland and a host of noble- 

10— Ellis' England. 



134 Young People's History of England. 



men who gathered round him. When Richard came 
home, he found that all his followers had fallen away, 
and he became a fugitive among the mountains of Wales. 
He was hunted down like the wolf that he was, and finally 
surrendered himself at Flint Castle, where he held a 
meeting with Henry Bolingbroke, who told him that 

having misruled the 
country for twenty-two 
years, he should rule 
n o longer. Richard 
had rebuilt Westmin- 
ster Hall, and the first 
Parliament that met 
there did so for the 
purpose of deposing 
him, that is, taking 
away his crown, and 
giving it to the victori- 
ous Duke of Lancaster, 
who claimed to stand 
next in succession 
through his descent 
from Henry III. 
After his deposition, Richard was held as a prisoner 
at Pontefract Castle, Yorkshire, where it is believed he 
died from poison in the year 1400. Thus perished the 
last of the unworthy Plantagenets. 

It seems unnecessary to add that those were the days 
of irreligion, though some of the reddest of criminals 
loudly claimed to be Christians. Amid the gloom and 




Wickliffe. 



House of Lancaster. 135 

the degradation of all classes, a gleam of purer light ap- 
peared, caused by the life, teachings and writings of John 
Wickliffe, a priest of Lutterworth, in Leicestershire. He 
has been called "The Morning Star of the Reformation," 
because he lived nearly two hundred years before Luther. 
His great soul burned with holy indignation at the wick- 
edness not only of the masses but among the clergy, 
whose ill-will he drew upon himself by his stern rebuke 
of their sins. Only the friendship of John of Gaunt 
saved him from being condemned to death. He was one 
of the best of men, and before he died of palsy, in 1384, 
he translated the Word of God into the mother tongue, 
so that all the people might read and learn its precious 
truths. 



CHAPTER IX. 

HOUSE OF LANCASTER (1399-1461). 
HENRY IV., HENRY V., HENRY VI. 

RICHARD II., having left no children, the rightful 
heir to the throne was the boy Edmund Mortimer, 
who was a descendant of Richard's uncle Lionel, 
Duke of Clarence. Mortimer's ancestor was the second 
son of Edward III., while Henry descended from the 
third son. A question of that sort, however, does not 
trouble the false claimant to a throne, and the people 



136 Young People's History of England. 



were so wearied with violence and misgovernment that 
they did not resist the wrong. Besides, they were tired 
of boy kings. 

But Henry was to have a hard time of it, and plots 
were hatched in every quarter. One night, when the 
straw of his bed was examined before lie lay down, a 
frightful weapon was found, which, but for his care, would 
have caused a bad and possibly a mortal wound. 

The men who had given 
the m o s t powerful aid to 
Henry were the D u k e of 
Northumberland, his son 
Henry Percy (the " Harry 
Hotspur" of Shakespeare), 
and the Earl of Worcester 
(woos'ter), a brother of North- 
u m her 1 a n d . T h e Pe r cy fa m i 1 y 
was treated with such mean- 
ness by the king that the mem- 
bers rebelled, and were joined by the Scottish Earl Doug- 
las and the Welsh prince Owen Glendower. 

Henry raised an army to put down the insurrection, and 
the two forces met in 1403, at Shrewsbury, on the border 
of Wales. Several of the rebels had sworn to single out 
Henry in battle, learning which, thirteen knights dressed 
themselves in the same kind of armor as the king's. As 
a result every one was killed, while Henry was not hurt. 
It was a desperate fight, in which "Hotspur" was slain, 
Douglas captured and the rebels routed. Of all, none 
fought more bravely than Prince Henry, son of the king. 




Henry of Lancaster claiming the 
throne. 



House of Lancaster. 



137 



Although. Henry spent a good deal of his time in 
conquering rebels, he gave attention to burning heretics, 
as those were called who refused to believe the doctrines 
of Rome. The king hoped 
thereby to gain the good- 
will of the clergy. A law 
was passed by the lords 
and bishops, the House of 
Commons having no part 
in it, which declared that 
such heretics, or "Lol- 
lards," as they were called, 
should suffer death. The 
first victim was William 
Sawtrey, a London clergy- 
man, who was burned at 
the stake at Smith field, 
in L o n don, in 1401. 
Some years later a second 
victim suffered in thesame 
manner. But such hor- 
rible work angered the 
English sense of justice; 
and, although the Lol- 
lards were still impris- 
oned, 110 more Were Henry IV. and his queen, Joan of Navarre. 
bT ,i ,i i From their tomb in Canterbury Cathedral. 

urned at the stake dur- 
ing Henry's reign, though later the fearful crimes were 
repeated. 

In March, 1413, while the king was praying before 




138 Young People's History of England. 

the shrine of Edward the Confessor, he was taken with a 
fit and carried into a room near by, where on the 20th of 
the month he breathed his last. 

Henry V. had been a wild, roystering youth, but 
upon becoming king he changed his method of life, as 
if sensible of the grave duty placed upon his shoulders. 
His father had advised him that if he found matters 
troublesome at home the best cure was to start a foreign 
war, so as to engage the minds of the people. The new 
ruler, acting upon this counsel, soon made war with 
France to enforce the claim of his ancestor, Edward III., 
to the crown. This action was popular at home and 
2)romised success, for the French were split into different 
parties who hated one another so fiercely that they would 
not unite against a common foe. 

It would be hard to imagine three more powerful 
motives than those that inspired King Henry V. If 
successful he, first of all, would gain a new crown and an 
enormous fortune; and, in addition, he hoped to secure a 
wife. The Duke of Burgundy, who was desperately fighting 
the French king, had a daughter, and so had the king 
himself. Either one of these would have suited Henry, 
and to make certain he proposed marriage to both. 
Henry, like so many titled ones in these days from over 
the sea who marry American heiresses, thought he ought 
to be paid an immense dowry for thus "sacrificing" 
himself, but the price he demanded was so high that 
the French king refused to pay it, and then, of course, 
Henry went to war. 

In the summer of 1415 he landed in France with an 



House of Lancaster. 139 

army of thirty thousand men. He besieged and captured 
Harfleur {ar-flur'), near the mouth of the Seine [sane), 
but lost so many of his troops through disease that, leav- 
ing a garrison at the place, he moved north to Calais and 
awaited reinforcements. He had only 10,000 men, while 
the French army was more than five times as numerous. 
They harassed the English continually, but after a long and 
dangerous march they reached a little village midway be- 
tween Crecy and Calais. From a hill near the castle 
of Agincourt (a'zhartkoor) the immense French army 
was seen drawn up in battle array. Both prepared to 
fight. 

It was a desperate prospect before the invaders, but they 
were stirred by iron resolution and the elements favored 
them. A drenching rain fell during the night and 
turned the ploughed field into such heavy mire that the 
French horsemen floundered almost helpless in it. On 
the other hand, the English bowmen, being on foot, 
moved about with ease. The French were overthrown 
with dreadful loss. (October 25, 1415.) 

Henry's success made the war more popular than ever 
at home, and Parliament gave him all the money he 
needed, while personally he secured what his ambition 
craved. Invading France again in 1420, he was still 
successful. The Duke of Burgundy formed an alliance 
with him, and they signed the famous treaty of Troyes 
(trwd). This gave to Henry, Catharine, the daughter of 
the French king, and he was proclaimed regent of France, 
with the promise of succeeding to the throne. Besides, he 
obtained large sums of money, and the aged French king 



140 Young People's History of England. 

was so old and feeble, besides being insane, that it was 
certain he could not live long. 

And yet this wan old monarch, tottering on the verge 
of the grave, outlived King Henry. The dauphin, as the 
son of the French king was called, still kept up his resist- 
ance to the English, and Henry crossed over to France to 
bring him to terms. He was pressing matters success- 
fully, when a mortal illness seized him. His death was 
in pleasing contrast to that of most of his predecessors, 
for in the castle to which he was taken he was surrounded 
by his brothers, friends and nobles, to whom he calmly 
gave his last instructions, they listening gravely and with 
respectful grief. He appointed his brother, the Duke of 
Gloucester, Protector of England during the minority of 
his infant son, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of 
Bedford was made regent of France. Then, dismissing 
the cares of earth, he gave the last hours of his life to 
devotion and preparation for the great change. He was 
laid to rest in Westminster with imposing ceremonies, 
and tapers were kept constantly burning over his tomb 
for more than a hundred years. The tomb was sur- 
mounted by a statue of the king, having a head of solid 
silver, but the head was stolen and never recovered. 

Henry VI. was proclaimed King of England and 
France when in his cradle, and crowned while still a 
child, first at Westminster and afterward in Paris. I 
may as well state, in this place, that this ruler was only 
about half-witted, and, as he grew up, became as weak in 
body as in mind. What a proof of the absurd method of 
furnishing rulers for one of the greatest nations of the age ! 



House of Lancaster. 141 

The new King of France refused to be bound by the 
Treaty of Troyes, and so war once more broke out be- 
tween the two countries. The Duke of Burgundy was 
lukewarm, but the Duke of Bedford made a brave fight 
for Henry. He was so successful that at the end of five 
years he had conquered most of the country north of the 
Loire, and he then determined to drive the French south 
of that river. To do this he had to subdue the strongly 
fortified city of Orleans, standing on that river, and the 
key to the southern provinces. Accordingly, the English 
army drew up in front of the place and planted cannon 
to batter down the walls. At the end of six months, so 
much progress had been made that the city seemed 
doomed. In it were centred the fortunes of France. If 
it fell, the country itself became captive. 

And now took place one of the most marvellous things 
in all history. In the districts of Lorraine lived an ig- 
norant peasant girl, named Joan of Arc (zhaun-dark). 
She was deeply religious, living, as may be said, upon the 
legends of the saints and martyrs. While tending her 
father's flocks she said that angels had commanded her 
to go to the deliverance of the dauphin and her beloved 
France. At first she was ridiculed, but she was so earnest 
that the superstitious people began to think perhaps she 
was right, and she was taken to the presence of the 
dauphin. He questioned her closely, and half believed her 
divine mission. She was mounted on a snow-white horse, 
clad in glittering armor, bearing a sword marked with 
five crosses, and a banner embroidered with the lilies of 
France, and rode straight toward the town, followed by 



142 Young People's History of England. 

the cheering thousands. The besieged rushed out, shout- 
ing " The Maid is come ! The Maid is come !" and while 
the English looked on in wonder, she and her men passed 
into the town, carrying provisions to the starving inhab- 
itants. 

The strange occurrence frightened the British, who 
refused to fight against one whom many believed to be a 
direct messenger from heaven. On the 8th of May, 1429, 
the siege of Orleans was abandoned, and the Maid won 
victory after victory. Before the end of July the dearest 
object of her life was accomplished in the crowning of 
the dauphin King of France. This took place at Rheims, 
the old coronation city of the country. Feeling now that 
she had fulfilled her mission, she wished to lay aside her 
armor and return to the care of her father's flocks. Well 
would it have been for her had she been allowed to do 
so ! 

But the king had found her so useful that he would 
not permit her to leave. He compelled her to lead in 
other enterprises ; but though she strove bravely to obey 
his will, she was unsuccessful. Many of those around her 
became jealous of her influence and deserted her. Feeling 
that she should not linger after her real mission was 
ended, she no longer heard heavenly voices. Her own 
king basely abandoned her, and while fleeing before a 
large body of English soldiery she was made prisoner. 
She was accused of sorcery, magic, and of being in league 
with the devil, and was brought before the learned church- 
men again and again, and they questioned and worried her 
until she was made almost beside herself. In those days 








"While Tending her Father's Flocks." 

Heavenly music sounded in the air far above her head, and visions, beyond 
the power of words to describe, broke upon her sight. 

143 



144 Young People's History of England. 

everybody believed in witchcraft, and hundreds of peo- 
ple were put to death every year upon the wild charge. . 

Her enemies were determined that she should die, 
though no one can doubt that she was one of the most 
conscientious women that ever lived. She was found 
guilty of witchcraft and heresy at Rouen, tied to the stake 
in the market-place, and, clasping a crucifix and mutter- 
ing the name of Jesus, was burned to death. A monu- 
ment now marks the spot where this awful crime was 
committed. 

But the example of the wonderful young woman 
thrilled France to the heart. The people rose as one 
man against their invaders, and before Henry VI. was 
thirty years old the Hundred Years' War, which began 
with Edward III., ended, and the only possession left to 
England was the single city of Calais, in which she held 
only an insecure foothold. 

Matters at home had gone awry. Beaufort, the guard- 
ian of the king, quarrelled with the Protector, and the 
country was split into factions. The weak, incompetent 
king in 1445 married Margaret, Princess of Anjou, and 
made himself more unpopular, for his countrymen had 
no liking for a French queen. Then, too, instead of her 
bringing a dowry to her royal husband, the terms of the 
marriage required Henry to pay a large sum of money to 
her father, the Duke of Anjou, together with the valuable 
provinces of Maine and Anjou, which had been won by 
the English at the cost of vast treasures and much loss 
of life. 

The "good Duke Humphrey," as Gloucester the Pro- 



House of Lancaster. 



145 



tector was called, was so disgusted with the marriage that 
he violently opposed it. Margaret was a high-strung and 
revengeful woman, and she began a series of persecutions 




"Tied to the stake in the market-place." 

of the Protector, which ended in his being arrested on 
the charge of treason. Before his trial he was found dead 
in bed, and sensible people did not need to inquire into 
the cause of his death. The imbecile kino- although 



146 Young People's History of England. 

twenty-five years old, needed a Protector, and the Duke 
of Suffolk, one of the queen's favorites, was appointed to 
that office. She also made another favorite, the Duke of 
Somerset, regent of France in place of the Duke of York. 
It was during the administration of the Duke of Somerset, 
whom many suspected of treachery, that the English were 
expelled from France, as already related. 

The indignation against the queen now became so 
strong that Suffolk was tried on the charge of treason by 
the House of Lords and banished. After he had em- 
barked he was brought back and beheaded. In the same 
year (1450), a formidable rebellion in Kent was headed 
by Jack Cade, the chief ground of complaint being that 
the people were not allowed their free choice in the elec- 
tion of representatives, but were compelled by the nobility 
to choose candidates whom they did not want. Cade 
marched to London at the head of 20,000 men, and de- 
manded the dismissal of detested favorites and the restora- 
tion of the Duke of York and others to royal favor. Like 
the forces of Wat Tyler, seventy years before, the men 
committed violence and crimes, but the rebels were per- 
suaded by false promises of reform and pardon to disperse. 
Jack Cade was afterward proclaimed a traitor and a large 
reward offered for his death. He fled toward the coast, 
but was overtaken by an esquire named Alexander Iden, 
who killed him in a fight and secured the reward. 

We now come to one of the most sorrowful epochs in 
the history of England, — that known as the War of the 
Roses, between the houses of York and Lancaster. This 
civil war was so called because those who fought on the 



House of Lancaster. 



147 



side of the house of York wore a red rose, while the sup- 
porters of Lancaster showed a white one. It lasted for 
thirty years, and broke up thousands of friendships and 
hundreds of families. It was like the senseless but bloody 




The Tower of London. 



family feuds in our own country, with the exception that 
it was conducted on a much larger scale. 

The majority of the English were so impatient with 
the misgovern men t of Margaret that they demanded that 



148 



Young People's History of England. 



Richard of York, a descendant of the second son of Ed- 
ward III., should be acknowledged as heir to the throne. 
He had served as Protector for several months while the 
king was suffering from insanity, but upon his recovery 
York resigned the office and the queen and her wicked 
counsellors took charge again. 

Although the Duke of York had made no open claim 
to the crown, his friends now rose in arms, and fought 

their first battle with the Lan- 
casterians at St. Albans on 
the 22d of May, 1455, and 
the Yorkists, after fighting a 
half hour, won a complete 
victory, the Duke of Somer- 
set being killed. Other suc- 
cesses followed, and at North- 
ampton Henry was taken pri- 
soner. Then a compromise 
tie promis- 




The battle of Shrewsbury. 



was agreed upon, 

in£ that if lie were allowed 



to reign to the close of his 
life, Richard or his heirs should succeed him. 

But this did not suit the high-spirited Margaret, who 
did not mean that her infant son, Prince Edward, should 
be set aside. She had fled to Scotland, where she raised 
an army and attacked the Yorkists at Wakefield. They 
were beaten and Richard killed. The queen had his head 
cut off, decked it with a white paper crown in mockery, 
and set it up over the chief gate of the city of York. 

Then the fortunes of war changed. The Lancasterians 



House of York. 149 

were defeated, and the Earl of Warwick, popularly known 
as "the King-maker," placed Edward, eldest son of the 
late Dnke of York, on the throne, with the title of Ed- 
ward IV. Margaret and Henry fled to Scotland, and 
being summoned to appear by the new government, and 
refusing to do so, they were proclaimed traitors. Henry 
was taken prisoner four years later and imprisoned in the 
Tower of London. Thus, in 1461, the crown of England 
passed from the house of Lancaster to the house of York. 



CHAPTER X. 

HOUSE OF YORK (1461-1485). 
EDWARD IV., EDWARD V., RICHARD III. 

THE battle of Towton, in Yorkshire, in 1461, which 
won England for the house of York, was one of the 
bloodiest in history. Gunpowder had come into 
general use, and it is said that 38,000 dead were left on 
the field. What a fitting episode in the War of the 
Roses ! 

The coronation of King Edward, which took place 
at Westminster, conferred the titles and honors of Duke 
of Clarence and Duke of Gloucester on his brothers 
George and Richard. But the War of the Roses went 
on as merrily as ever. The king in 1464, without the 
consent or knowledge of the great lords, married Lady 

11— Ellis' England. 



150 Young People's History of England. 

Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of Sir John Grey. De- 
spite the displeasure thus caused, she was crowned a year 
later amid tournaments and splendid pageants. 

The Earl of Warwick, known as " the King-maker/' 
because of his great political power, he having as many as 
30,000 retainers, quarrelled with Edward some years 
after his accession and replaced Henry on the throne. 
But he did not stay long. A few months later, the last 
of the great barons was killed in battle and Henry was 
meekly led back to the Tower again, where he died one 
of those sudden deaths that are often so convenient to 
those high in authority. 

His widow Margaret kept up her fight for the claims 
of her son, and it is impossible not to admire her spirit, 
though fate was against her. She lost all her treasure 
on board ship in a great storm. One cold winter day, 
while riding through the forest, she and her companions 
were attacked and plundered by robbers. After escaping, 
and while alone on foot in a dark part of the wood, they 
suddenly came upon another robber. Taking the little 
prince by the hand, the queen walked up to the outlaw and 
said : " My friend, this is the young son of your lawful 
king ; I confide him to your care." The astonished rob- 
ber lifted the little fellow in his arms and restored him 
and his mother to their friends. 

At the battle of Tewkesbury, fought in 1471 near 
Gloucester, Prince Edward and his mother were taken 
prisoners. The Prince was cruelly put to death by 
the Dukes of Clarence and Gloucester, and the queen 
was finally released on the payment of a large ransom, 



House of York. 



151 



and, returning to France, died of a broken heart in 
1482. 




Death of the Earl of Warwick. 

During these days of strife and bloodshed a little event 



152 Young People's History of England. 

took place which attracted slight attention at the time, 
though it was of vaster importance than the wrangles 
over parties and crowns. William Caxton was a j^easant 
boy, born in Kent in 1422. When he grew to be a big 
lad, he became so interested in the stories of the weaving 
of cloth in Flanders that he made his way thither. He 
was industrious and attentive, and in time made himself 
master of the art of weaving. He was so respected that, 
when he removed to Bruges (bru'jiz), he was appointed 
English consul. He wrote a fine hand, which coming to 
the knowledge of the Duchess of Burgundy, she em- 
ployed him in making copies of rare books. 

In one of the old church tow T ers of Bruges was a little 
rude printing-press that had been brought to town by its 
owner. Caxton grew so weary with copying that he often 
climbed the rickety stairs to the small printing-office, and 
had his work printed for him. While it w ? as going on he 
watched the process with deep interest, and by and by 
asked himself why the art could not be introduced into 
his beloved England, which he had not seen for more than 
twenty years. 

In truth, there was no reason why this should not be 
done. So he went over to London, the country then be- 
ing at peace, and set up a little printing-press within the 
limits of Westminster Abbey. At " the sign of the red 
pole," he advertised his wares as "good chepe," and not 
only printed, but translated works. Edward IV. was one 
of his patrons, as were several members of the nobility, 
though the clergy of France had condemned printing as 
a black art, coming from the devil, and the English clergy 




Queen Margaret Meets an Outlaw in the Forest. 

Margaret's spirits rose higher with danger: to the outlaw she said: 
"My friend, this is the youug son of your lawful king; I confide 
him to your care." 

153 



154 Young People's History of England. 



were not friendly, since it threatened to destroy the copy- 
ing trade, which was almost entirely in the hands of the 

monks. 

The first book printed in Eng- 
land by Caxton is believed to be 
The Game and Playe of Chesse, 
in 1474, though some claim that 
the first volume which it is known 
of a certainty was published by 
him was in 1477, when he put forth 
The Sayings of the Philosophers. 
A copy of this is preserved in the 
British Museum. . It has no title- 
page, but ends thus : " The dictes 
or sayengis of the philosophres, 
emprynted by me william Caxton 
at westmestre, the year of our lord 
MCCCCLxxvii." * 

Caxton followed this with 
Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," 
and such works as he thought 
worthy of preservation, the total 
being no less than sixty-four sepa- 
rate books. Thus were sown the 
seeds of " the art preservative of 
all arts," which was a blessing to 
mankind that had been and still was grievously afflicted 
by the curse of war. 

Edward, now feeling himself secure upon the throne, 
gave himself up to every kind of debauchery. What a 




Effigy of the Earl of Warwick 
From his tomb at Warwick. 



House of York. 



155 



precious family group they formed, when his younger 
brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, succeeded in per- 
suading him to put to death their other brother, the 
Duke of Clarence ! When on the point of plunging into 
another war with France, Edward IV. succumbed to a 
distemper and died in 1483. 

Edward V., the eldest son 
of the late king, a youth of 
thirteen years, was proclaimed 
king, and his uncle was ap- 
pointed Protector. Humanity 
never produced a more abom- 
inable wretch than this Rich- 
ard, Duke of Gloucester. 

The only friends the youth- 
ful prince had were the Wood- 
villes and Greys, who were 
disliked by the English people. 
It did not take Richard long 
to dispose of them. Earl 
Rivers and Lord Grey, the 
guardians of the prince, were 

arrested treacherously, and, with a number of others, 
beheaded in Pontefract Castle. The Earl Rivers was one 
of the most learned and accomplished men of his age. 
Richard next put Lord Hastings to death, and indeed did 
not scruple to " remove " all who he feared might try to 
bar his way to the throne. 

His next step was to declare that, since Edward IV. 
had been married to another ladv before his union with 




Large ship and boat of the fifteenth 

century. 

Drawn about 1485. 



156 Young People's History of England. 

Elizabeth Woodville, the children of the last marriage 
were not the legal heirs to the throne. The people were 
fooled and offered Richard the crown. He pretended to 
refuse at first, and spoke of his love for his brother's 
children, whom he had just declared not entitled to reign. 
Finally he ended his hypocrisy and was crowned Richard 
III. of England. 

Meanwhile, Prince Edward and his younger brother 
had been imprisoned in the Tower of London. There 
is a mysterious horror about the fate of these princes, 
but it is almost positive that they were murdered by 
order of Richard. Dickens relates the dreadful incident 
as follows : 

"While King Richard was staying at Warwick, he 
sent instructions home for one of the wickedest, murders 
that ever was done — the murder of the two young princes, 
his nephews, who were shut up in the Tower of London. 

" Sir Robert Bracken bury was at that time Governor 
of the Tower. To him, by the hands of a messenger 
named John Green, did King Richard send a letter or- 
dering him by some means to put the two young princes 
to death. But Sir Robert — I hope because he had chil- 
dren of his own and loved them — sent John Green back 
again, riding and spurring along the dusty roads, with 
the answer that he could not do so horrible a piece of 
work. The king having frowningly considered a little, 
called to him Sir James Tyrrel, his Master of the Horse, 
and to him gave authority to take command of the Tower, 
whenever he could, for twenty-four hours, and to keep all 
the keys of the Tower during that space of time. Tyrrel, 




First Meeting of Edward IV. and Elizabeth Woodville. 



Meetin- King Edward at the house of the Duchess of Bedford EH^beth 
threw hefself at the feet of the monarch and begged him to restore to 

her children their father's confiscated estate. 



158 Young People's History of England. 



well knowing what was wanted, looked about him for two 
hardened ruffians, and chose John Dighton, one of his 

own grooms, and Miles 
Forest, who was a mur- 
derer by trade. Hav- 
ing secured these two 
assistants, he went, 
upon a day in August, 
to the Tower, showed 
his authority from the 
ing, took the com- 
mand for four-and- 
twenty hours, and ob- 
tained possession of 
the keys. And when 
the black night came, 
le went creeping, 
creeping, like a guilty 
villain as he was, up 
the dark stone winding 
stairs, and along the 
dark stone passages, 
until he came to the 
door of the room where 
the two young princes, 
I having said their 
■■i^^^^^^^^B^*'*"'^™ prayers, lay fast asleep, 

Prince Edward and his brother. clasped ill each Other's 

arms. And while he watched and listened at the door, 
he sent in those evil demons, John Dighton and Miles 




160 Young People's History of England. 

Forest, who smothered the two princes with the bed and 
pillows, and carried their bodies down the stairs, and 
buried them under a great heap of stones at the staircase 
foot. And when the day came he gave up the command 
of the Tower and restored the keys, and hurried away 
without once looking behind him ; and Sir Robert Brack- 
en bury went with fear and sadness to the princes' room, 
and found the princes gone forever." 

Such evil men can never count upon the loyalty of 
their partners in crime. The Duke of Buckingham had 
helped Richard to gain the throne, but turned against 
him because the king did not give him the rewards 
promised. He headed what appeared to be a dangerous 
revolt, but many of his followers deserted him and he 
fell into the hands of Richard, and Richard turned him 
over to the executioner, and the executioner did the rest. 

But more serious peril came from another quarter. It 
had been the intention of Richard to marry his son to 
Elizabeth of York, who was the sister of the two princes 
whom he had murdered in the Tower; but the son died, 
and Richard, having got rid of his wife, made up his 
mind to marry Elizabeth himself. 

But the princess was already betrothed to Henry 
Tudor, Earl of Richmond, who had been waiting a long 
time on the continent to invade England and claim the 
crown. He determined to wait no longer, and in 1485 
landed, with a strong armed force, at Milford Haven, in 
Wales. The earl's paternal ancestors were Welsh, and 
he was sure of a warm welcome. 

There on Bosworth Field, on August 22, 1485, was 



House of York. 161 

fought the decisive battle between the houses of York 
and Lancaster. Richard, inflamed with rage, walked out 
in the dusk of the evening before the struggle to look 
over the ground. One of the first sights that met his eye 
was a tired sentinel asleep on his post. Drawing his 
sword, the king drove it through his heart, coolly remark- 
ing: "Since I found him asleep, I will leave him asleep." 

Returning to his tent, he tossed about but could not 
sleep. It may have been that the many ghosts of his 
murdered victims passed in front of his staring eyes, and 
that remorse and dread gnaw T ed at his heart. As Shake- 
speare has said, they may have "struck terror to the soul 
of Richard." It is recorded that on the following morn- 
ing Richard confessed to his attendants the murder of his 
two nephews, but said he had atoned by penance for the 
crime. 

The battle opened at sunrise, and had all of Richard's 
troops stood by him it is quite probable he would have 
won a victory, but those upon whom he had most counted 
deserted, and shrieking " Treason ! treason !" he dashed 
into the thickest of the fight. His desperate purpose was 
to reach the Earl of Richmond and kill him. He had 
almost got to him, and, killing the standard-bearer, 
flung the Lancasterian standard to the ground. But he 
could drive his way no further, and fell before the blows 
that were rained upon him. 

After the battle, the crown which Richard had worn 
was found hanging on a hawthorn bush ; and grimy, 
bloody and stained, it was placed on the head of Henry 
Tudor, while the exultant army broke into the Te Deum. 



162 Young People's History of England. 

Thus passed away the last of the Plantagenet line, of 
whom it has been said that great as were their faults and 
crimes, there was not a coward among them. 

And thus, too, ended the War of the Roses. During 
the thirty years that it lasted, fourteen pitched battles 
were fought, and in the single one of Towton, more Eng- 
lishmen perished than were killed for the forty years 
previous in the wars with France. Eighty princes of the 
blood and fully half of the nobility lost their lives, while 
no pen can picture the multitude of desolate hearthstones 
and broken hearts caused by the foolish struggle to gain 
possession of the bauble crown. 

The most important events in the political and social 
progress of England from 1154 to 1485 were the institu- 
tion of the House of Commons, the granting of the 
Magna Charta, and the abolition of serfdom. Creasy 
says that of the 2,000,000 human beings who inhabited 
England in the reign of John, probably one half were in 
a state of slavery, a fact which should be remembered by 
those who are fond of recalling " Merrie England " and 
the "good old days." True English history starts with 
the laborers in abject wretchedness, and thenceforward 
there is a steady improvement, though it was lamentably 
slow and imperfect. 

Great evils sometimes bring about good. During the 
War of the Roses, the nobles, being compelled to arm 
their serfs, could never afterward reduce them to servitude. 
Then, too, the ancient nobility having been destroyed in 
those wars, feudalism disappeared, giving way to a better 
system. The armor of the period was made of steel 



House of York. 163 

plate, which completely covered the body. Sometimes it 
was inlaid with gold and elegantly mounted. The old 
weapons were still generally used, though cannon were 
employed, and a species of clumsy handgun was fired by 
means of a match. The longbow was the principal arm 
of the foot-soldiers, and some of the archers displayed 
wonderful skill with the weapon. 

Wool was the great staple of commerce. Tin, leather, 
lead, etc., were sold mainly to the German merchants, 
who sent gold, silver, silks, wines, spices and other lux- 
uries to England in exchange. Toward the close of the 
period named, silk-making was introduced, and in 1455 a 
law was passed to protect those engaged in its manufac- 
ture from the competition of the Lombard merchants. 
Thus, more than four centuries ago, England passed laws 
something like those of the United States, in the interests 
of protection to the home manufacturers. Agriculture 
was rude and backward, and thousands of acres that 
might have been profitably tilled with modern implements 
were used for sheep pastures. 

There was an improvement in the modes of living. 
Many houses contained glass windows, earthenware ves- 
sels were made, candles were used for lighting purposes, 
and coal was employed for fuel. Some of the fashions 
were as grotesque as those of modern times, possibly more 
so, though you may depend upon it that a hundred years 
from now our descendants will have their laugh over the 
fashions of to-day. 

Some of the shoes were so long-pointed that the 
wearer could not walk until he had first tied the points 



164 Young People's History of England. 

to his knee or to his girdle. The stockings were of all 
colors, and many coats were half-black and half-white, or 
half-blue and half-black, with the trousers barely reach- 
ing the knees. The ladies wore gaily colored tunics, 
short tippets, small caps, and two small swords thrust into 
their girdles of ornamented gold or silver. Their trains 
were very long, and their head-dresses sometimes towered 
to a height of two or three feet. A lady in full dress 
must have felt queer. 

Not much progress was made in science. It has been 
told that Roger Bacon, who lived during the thirteenth 
century, discovered the composition of gunpowder. He 
also learned of the use of the magnifying-glass, and de- 
signed a number of mathematical and philosophical in- 
struments. A man with an inventive genius received 
little encouragement in those far-away days, for when he 
produced anything of merit he was pretty sure to be ac- 
cused of being a magician in league with the devil and 
then punished. Bacon had to spend a good many years 
in prison because he knew so much. 

The introduction of printing marked an epoch in the 
history of England. The first era of English literature 
is placed in the reign of Edward III., when, in 1360, the 
Travels of Sir John Ifandeville were published. John 
Wickliffe, who translated the Bible, and Geoffrey Chaucer 
flourished in the same reign. The language used by these 
writers is known as "Middle English," since it came 
between the " semi-Saxon, " which preceded it, and mod- 
ern English, which appeared during the reign of 
Elizabeth. 



CHAPTER XL 

HOUSE OF TUDOR (1485-1603). 
HENRY VII., HENRY VIII., EDWARD VI. (1485-1553). 

HENRY VII. was not cruel, but he was cold, crafty 
and cunning. He hated the house of York, but 
one of the first things he did after becoming king 
was to marry Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Edward IV., 
and sister to the young princes murdered by Richard III. 
This united the two rival houses of Lancaster and York 
and ended the War of the Roses. Then the young Earl 
of Warwick, a nephew of the late king and son of the 
unfortunate Duke of Clarence, was made a prisoner in 
the Tower. 

Despite these precautions, two pretenders to the throne 
caused trouble. A young and noble-looking boy in 1487 
appeared in Ireland, where the people loved the memory 
of the Duke of York and his son, the Duke of Clarence, 
and declared that he was the Earl of Warwick. The 
impulsive Irishmen believed the story and ardently gath- 
ered to his standard, not doubting the wonderful account 
of his escape from the Tower. No crown being at com- 
mand, a diadem was taken from the statue of the Virgin 
and placed upon his brow in the Cathedral Church of 
Dublin, and he was saluted by the title of Edward VI. 
The real name of this pretender was Lambert Simnel, 

12— Ellis' England. ( 165 ) 



166 Young People's History of England. 

and he was the son of a. baker. King Henry quashed his 
ambition by bringing forth the real Earl of Warwick 
and parading him in the streets of London. Then he 
marched a force against Simnel's supporters, overcame 
them at a little village in Yorkshire, and wound up the 
farce by giving Simnel employment as a scullion in the 
royal kitchen. 

Some six years later Perkin Warbeck, son of a mer- 
chant of Tournay, represented that he was Richard, Duke 
of York, younger of the two brothers that had been 
killed in the Tower of London. People are always ready 
to believe the wildest tale of such a nature, and he was 
welcomed by James IV., King of Scotland, who felt 
anything but friendship for England. He was treated 
royally, greeted as the true "White Rose of England," 
and married the noble and beautiful Lady Catharine 
Gordon. Then with the troops furnished by the King 
of Scotland he crossed the border, but was defeated and 
driven back by a force under the Earl of Surrey, where- 
upon he left Scotland, whose king was persuaded to make 
a treaty with England. An insurrection breaking out 
among the people of Cornwall, Warbeck landed there 
and marched as far as Taunton, in Somersetshire, where 
he was defeated, taken prisoner and sent to the Tower. 

In that grim prison he and the Earl of Warwick be- 
came close friends. Soon there spread a rumor of a plot 
formed bv them against the king, who had them tried, 
found guilty and executed. This crime, committed in 
1499, destroyed the last male descendant of the Plantag- 
enets. 




Lady Catharine Gordon. 



(167) 



168 Young People's History of England. 

The besetting sin of Henry VII. was avarice. For- 
tunately he was opposed to war, and devoted his energies 
to the gathering of wealth. When he died in 1509, after 
a reign of twenty-four years, he left a fortune to his suc- 
cessor amounting to a sum that in these days would have 
been fully $75,000,000. 

You must not fail to note that during the reign of 
Henry VII. one of the most important events in the his- 
tory of the world took place. Christopher Columbus 
discovered America, and Sebastian Cabot, sailing from 
Bristol under a commission of the king, discovered the 
mainland of North America. The king built a large 
vessel, named the Great Harry, and thus laid the founda- 
tion of the British navy. 

Henry VIII., handsome and popular, came to the 
throne when only eighteen years old. In the first year 
of his reign he married Catherine of Aragon, widow of 
his brother Arthur, who died when sixteen years old. 
This was the beginning of a series of matrimonial expe- 
riences which gives Henry VIII. a place by himself 
among the debauched rulers of England. 

The king made a special favorite of Thomas Wolsey, 
the son of a butcher, but well educated and possessed of 
brilliant talents. He was advanced rapidly, until he was 
made a cardinal by the Pope, whose successor he hoped 
to become. 

Henry joined Spain, Venice and the Pope in their 
league against France, and, having invaded the latter 
country with a large army, he defeated the French in 
1513 in the celebrated Battle of the Spurs, so called be- 



House of Tudor. 



169 



Cause of the wild flight of the enemy's cavalry. La the 
same year 
James IV. of 
Scotland in- 
vaded E n g- 
land with a 
large a rmy, 
but was de- 
feated by the 
Earl of Sur- 
rey in the 
battle of 
F 1 o d d e n 
Field, the 
king himself 
and the flow- 
er of the Scot- 
tish nobility 
being among 
the s 1 a i n. 
Francis I., 
King of 
France, was 
anxious t o 
form an al- 
liance w i t h 
England, and 
the meeting: 

of the two kings took place near Calais in 1520. It may 
be doubted whether many scenes were marked by such 




King Henry VIII. 



170 



Young People's History of England, 



magnificence and splendor. All the court went with 
King Henry to the place, which is commonly called the 
Field of the Cloth of Gold. There were tournaments, 
sham castles, temporary chapels, fountains running wine, 
vast cellars full of wine, free to all, silk tents, gold lace 
and foil, gilt lions, feasting, drinking, and such a display 
and celebration as very rarely has been seen in any coun- 
try. Of course the treaty was made, and of course neither 




The Embarkation of Henry VIII. from Dover, 1520. 
From the original painting at Hampton Court. 

monarch had the least intention of keeping it one hour 
beyond the time he thought it to his interest to break the 
agreement. 

Martin Luther had begun his Reformation in Europe, 
which was turned upside down, and King Henry, who 
had been educated a strict Romanist, wrote a treatise 
against Luther's doctrines — that is, he got the credit of 
writing it, though I have no doubt it was written for him. 




Henry VII I. at Calais on Iu S way to the F 



e Field of the Cloth of Gold. 
(171) 



172 Young People's History of England. 

Even in these days more than one author has prepared a 
book for some rich man, who paid him a goodly sum 
therefor, and then put it forth as the work of his own 
pen. The Pope was so delighted that he bestowed upon 
the- king the title of Defender of the Faith, and the name 
has been used by the rulers of Great Britain ever since. 

Henry was not long in advancing his matrimonial 
career. Tiring of his wife, and infatuated with another 
woman, he pretended to believe that, since the former had 
been married to his brother, she could not legally marry 
himself. So lie applied to the new Pope, Clement VII., 
to divorce him from Queen Catherine, but the Pope was 
not willing to do this, and kept putting him off until 
Henry lost his small stock of patience, and suspecting 
that Cardinal Wolsey was partly to blame for the failure, 
he dismissed him from court, took away all his posses- 
sions, and completely ruined him. He died a broken- 
hearted man at Leicester Abbey, his last pathetic words 
being: "Had I served my God as diligently as I have 
served my king He w r ould not have given me over in my 
grey hairs/' 

Since the Pope would not grant his wish, Henry 
looked around for some one to help him out of his di- 
lemma. Both Houses were under his control, but he 
fumed and swore over the opposition of the Pope and the 
English Church. Thomas Cromwell had been the secre- 
tary of Wolsey when he enjoyed kingly favor, and after 
the fall of Wolsey, Henry made him his own secretary. 
He was a bold and artful man, and now advised the king 
to throw off the Pope's rule and make himself the head 



House of Tudor. 



173 



of the Church of England. The courts could be counted 
upon to do as he wished about divorcing him from Queen 
Catherine, and he could marry Anne Boleyn, for whom 
he had formed a liking. 

The proposition suited Henry. The Lords and Com- 
mons passed the "Act of Supremacy," which made the 




Hampton Court; built by Cardinal Wolsey, finished in 1526. 

king the head of the Church of England ; but it should 
be stated that previous to this a court composed of Car- 
dinal Wolsey and Cardinal Campeggio, an Italian, as 
papal legates or representatives, was convened at Black- 
friars, London, to decide upon the validity of the marri- 
age. Henry and Catherine were summoned, and the 



174 Young People's History of England. 

king appeared and answered to bis name. Upon calling 
the queen, she refused to answer, and throwing herself at 
the feet of Henry, begged him with tears not to cast her off; 
but the brute would not listen, and finding he could not 
be moved, she left the court refusing to appear again, and 
appealing to Rome for justice. This was in the spring 
of 1529, and the disgrace and fall of Wolsey followed. 

Miles Coverdale was born in Yorkshire in 1488, and 
becoming an Augustin monk, was ordained at Norwich. 
He soon changed his opinions and devoted himself to the 
work of Reformation. In 1532 he assisted Tyndale in 
the translation of the Scriptures, and three years after- 
ward his own translation of the Bible appeared, with a 
dedication to Henry VIII. This was the first complete 
translation of the Bible printed in the English language. 
The Psalms of this translation are those still used in the 
Book of Common Prayer. In 1539 the Great Bible, 
commonly called Cranmer's Bible, was brought out in 
London under Coverdale's supervision. In March, 1548, 
he returned to England and in 1551 was made Bishop of 
Exeter. Upon the accession of Mary, in 1553, he was 
thrown into prison, but released after two years on the 
earnest request of the King of Denmark. He went to 
that country and subsequently to Geneva, where he as- 
sisted in producing the Geneva translation of the Scrip- 
tures (1557-1560). He returned to England upon the 
accession of Elizabeth, and in 1564 was collated to the 
rectory of St. Magnus, London. Age and infirmities 
compelled him to resign this living in 1568, and he died 
about two years afterward. 



House of Tudor. 175 

The English Church was separated from the Catholic 
Church in 1534, the monasteries were suppressed, some 
changes were made in the doctrines and forms of religion, 
and the event is known in history as the English Reforma- 
tion. Henry had become absolute. Cromwell was his 
tool and introduced the practice of not allowing an ac- 
cused prisoner to speak in his own defence. Anyone who 
did not openly side with the king was in danger of his 
life. Sir Thomas More, who had been Lord Chancellor, 
and the aged Bishop Fisher, were executed because they 
would not say that Henry was morally and spiritually 
entitled to be the head of the Church. On the road to 
execution, Sir Thomas bade an affectionate farewell to his 
daughter, and, like Fisher a few days before, he died with 
true Christian fortitude. As he climbed the steps leading 
to the scaffold he said to the governor of the Tower, with 
a flash of his old humor : " Do you see me safe up and I 
will shift for myself in getting down." 

Upon learning of these great crimes, the Pope issued 
a bull of excommunication and a deposition against Henry, 
whom he had once dubbed Defender of the Faith. Then 
the king proceeded to demolish the monasteries, on the 
grounds that they had sunken into ignorance, drunken- 
ness and profligacy. It was their wealth, however, which 
he was after, and he used a part of the revenues to found 
a college at Oxford. 

In 1553 the king privately married Anne Boleyn, 
and she was soon afterward crowned in Westminster 
Abbey. Less than three years afterward he charged her 
with unfaithfulness, sent her to the Tower, and had her 



176 Young People's History of England. 

beheaded. The very next day he married Jane Seymour, 
Anne's maid of honor. Parliament obediently passed an 
act of approval. A year later the queen died, leaving a 
son, Edward. The king then married Anne of Cleves, a 
German princess, who had been represented to him as a 
beautiful woman, but who proved to be the opposite. The 
king procured a divorce six months later, and then, 
since Cromwell, his secretary, had been the cause of his 
deception, he revenged himself upon him by having his 
head cut off. 

The king's next marriage was to the beautiful Cath- 
erine Howard, but learning that she had lived disgrace- 
fully before the marriage, he had her beheaded. In 1543 
he married Catherine Parr, and she, as his sixth wife, 
would have gone to the block on the charge of heresy 
had she not saved herself by her quick wit, which flat- 
tered his self-conceit. 

The last years of Henry's reign were awful. Roman 
Catholics were beheaded as traitors because they would 
not own the king as the head of the Church, and Protest- 
ants were burned as heretics, because they did not believe 
the Roman Catholic doctrines. A new act was passed by 
Parliament, called the "Act of Six Articles," setting 
forth six doctrines of the Roman Catholic faith which 
everyone was ordered to believe. On account of the 
heavy penalties attached, it became known as the "Whip 
with Six Strings." 

Worn out with debauchery, a rotten and loathsome 
wretch, Henry died one winter's night in 1547, and within 
a month his son was crowned in Westminster Abbev and 




Sir Thomas More bids farewell to his daughter. 



(177) 



178 Young People's History of England. 



began his reign as Edward VI. He was only nine years 
old, and his uncle, the Duke of Somerset, ruled in his name 
for six years. He was a Protestant, and that religion came 
to the front. A new prayer-book was published, and its 

use was ordered in place of 
the Roman Catholic Mass. 

Somerset really cared 
nothing for religion, but was 
anxious to rob the Catholic 
churches. Law and order 
were cast aside, and the 
Catholics were robbed, 
mocked, and treated with 
shameful cruelty. The nobles 
took the lands from the com- 
mon people and turned them 
into sheep pastures. They 
became desperate in their 
sufferings, and, rising against 
the Duke of Somerset, he 
was thrown into the Tower 
and beheaded. 

Edward was anxious that 
the English should become 
Protestants, and used every 
means except the right one to make them so. He was 
grieved that his half-sister Mary, daughter of Henry 
VIII. and Catherine of Aragon, who was to rule after him, 
was a firm Roman Catholic. That she should succeed to 
the crown was the will of Henry VIII., and an act of 




Part of Siege of Boulogne by Henry 
VIII., 1544, showing military opera- 
tions. 



I 




180 Young People's History of England. 

Parliament had decreed it. The Duke of Northumberland, 
who had succeeded Somerset in power, persuaded Edward 
to disregard his father's will and leave the crown to Lady 
Jane Grey, a cousin of Northumberland. She was an 
accomplished and well-educated woman, who, at the age 
of sixteen, was married to Guildford Dudley, son of the 
Duke of Northumberland. For a brief while they lived 
happily together, reading the books they both loved, and 
praying that they might be left alone to enjoy their 
mutual affection. But one day, in 1553, they were startled 
hy the visit of her father-in-law and a number of nobles, 
who knelt at her feet and told her that by her cousin's 
will she was now the Queen of England. She refused, for 
she knew too well the stormy career that attends high 
office ; but her father and mother pressed her, and, sad to 
say, she consented. 



CHAPTER XII. 

HOUSE OF TUDOR (CONCLUDED). 1485-1603. 

MARY, ELIZABETH. (1553-1603). 

LADY JANE GREY'S reign was so brief that she 
is not ranked as one of the queens of England. 
Besides, she was not the rightful heir and the 
people resented her coronation. Princess Mary was also 
crowned, but at Norwich, and she gathered her army and 



House of Tudor. 



181 



marched against 
Northumberland and 
his troops. The latter, 
upon the approach of 
the royal forces, 
threw up their caps 
and shouted ''Long 
live Queen Mary." 
Lady Jane's reign, 
which bewail in Julv, 
1553, lasted only ten 
days, when she and 
her husband were 
sent to the Tower, 
and the following 
year suffered death 
on the scaffold. You 
may see to-day the 
word "Jane" deeply 
cut in the stone wall 
of the Beauchamp 
Tower, a part of the 
Tower of London, 
among many other 
names that have been 
carved there by the 
unfortunate prisoners. 
The dearest object 
of Mary's life was to 
bring England back 

13— Ellis' England. 




Lady Jane Grey in the Tower. 



/ 



182 Young People's History of England. 

within the fold of the Catholic Church. As a step 
toward doing so she married Philip of Spain, son of the 
Emperor Charles V. Then, with the aid of the obedient 
Parliament, she caused all the statutes of Edward VI. 
regarding religion to be repealed, and the severe laws 
against heresy were revived. At her request Cardinal 
Pole was sent to England as papal legate, and the king- 
dom was formally restored to the Roman Church. This 
was followed by a fearful persecution of the Protestants. 
At Smithfield no less than 277 persons were burned as 
heretics, among whom were Cranmer, Ridley, and 
Latimer. 

Philip, Mary's husband, having become King of 
Spain, she joined him in a war against France, but every- 
thing went wrong. Calais, the last English foothold, 
which England had held for two hundred years, fell into 
the hands of the French. The queen, whose cruelties 
have won her the dreadful title of "Bloody Mary," died 
soon after, in 1558, and the nation thanked heaven that 
it was at last rid of her. 

Henry VIII. in his will decreed that if Mary died 
before the Princess Elizabeth, the latter was to succeed 
to the throne. She was the daughter of Anne Boleyn, 
Henry's second wife, and during the reign of Mary was 
kept closely guarded, most of the time in the Tower. She 
had been educated as a Protestant; and, upon becoming 
queen, caused all the laws of King Edward concerning 
religion to be re-enacted and the new liturgy to be re- 
established. 

Her position was a difficult one. Mary Stuart <f 



House of Tudor. 



183 



Scotland stood next in succession, being Queen of France, 

and she claimed the English crown through descent from 

HenryVIL, 

on the 

ground that 

Elizabeth, 

being the 

daughter of 

Anne Bol- 

eyn,was not 

lawfully the 

heir,because 

the Pope 

had never 

recognized 

the second 

marriage 

of Henry 

VIII. I n 

this claim 

Mary was 

supported 

by the Pope 

and France, 

but strange 

as it may 

seem, Spain, 

which was a 

powerful nation, sustained Elizabeth. This was because 

Philip II. wished to marry Elizabeth and annex her 




Mary Tudor (Bloody Mary). 



184 Young People's History of England. 

kingdom. Scotland was torn by two religious factions, 
while Ireland was ready for any chance that offered for 
striking England. 

The greatest danger, however, was in England itself, 
because of the fierce division on the question of religion. 
There were many noble families in the north who clung 
to the old faith and longed to see the Roman Catholic 
Church restored. In the southeast, a majority favored 
the Protestant Church. Within these parties were two 
others whose zeal made up for their lack of numbers. 
The Jesuits were banded together to support the Catholic 
Church and to destroy heresy, and it was believed that 
they would not hesitate at any means to accomplish their 
ends. The Puritans were determined to purify the Eng- 
lish Church of every taint of Romanism. They were 
hard, resolute, bitter and fearless. They gained possession 
of the government in Scotland and became prominent in 
England, but, as you have learned in the History of the 
United States, were destined to impress themselves most 
strongly upon America. 

Elizabeth was wise. She determined to do all she 
could to win the good-will of her enemies. To please the 
Catholics she retained a number of her sister Mary's 
counsellors, and added to them Lord Burleigh, Sir Nich- 
olas Bacon, Sir Francis Walsingham, and other able men 
of the Reformed faith. 

Since the bishops were Roman Catholic, Elizabeth 
found some difficulty in getting one to perform the coro- 
nation services, and did not succeed until she agreed to 
take the ancient oath, which virtually bound her to sup- 



House of Tudor. 



185 



port the Church of Rome. She was crowned on Sunday, 

January 15, 

1558. 

The first 
eleven years 
of Eliza- 
beth's rpign 
were mark- 
ed by inter- 
nal quiet 
and p r o s- 
perity. She 
showed her- 
s e 1 f pru- 
dent, v i g i- 
lant and ac- 
t i v e, and 
gained the 
respect and 
confidence 
of t h e na- 
tion. Parlia- 
ment urged 
her to marry 
and she had 
many offers, 

both CatllO- Queen Elizabeth. 

lie and Pro- 
testant ; but she refused all, and declared that she intended 
to remain single throughout her life. She did so, and 




186 Young People's History of England. 

because of this fact is often spoken of as the Virgin 
Queen. 

The reign of Elizabeth was one of the most glorious 
in the history of England. Its magnificent maritime 
career was fairly begun by the expeditions sent to America 
under the direction of Sir Walter Raleigh, and the region 
discovered there was named Virginia, in honor of the 
Virgin Queen. Frobisher made voyages in search of a 
northwest passage, and Sir Francis Drake, in 1579, sailed 
round the world by way of Cape Horn and Cape of Good 
Hope. 

Philip II. of Spain was so fearfully cruel to the Neth- 
erlands that in 1572 they revolted, and Elizabeth warmly 
espoused their cause. This mortally offended Philip, who 
was also angered because Elizabeth would not marry him, 
and England had completely cut itself off from the do- 
minion of Rome. Spain at that time was one of the 
mightiest powers in the world, and her king now began 
preparing a prodigious fleet to carry over his troops to 
conquer England. This fleet, called the Invincible 
Armada, consisted of 150 ships and 28,000 men, bearing 
3000 guns. When the news of the intended invasion 
(1588) reached England, the people, Catholic as well as 
Protestant, rallied as one man to repel the invaders. 

Although England could not muster so overwhelming 
a fleet she was not frightened. Lord Howard, the naval 
commander, and his renowned captains, Drake, Frobisher 
and Hawkins, made ready with a brave host to man their 
fleet. Beacon fires flashed on all the hilltops to give 
notice of the enemy's approach, and thousands kept 



House of Tudor. 



187 



ceaseless watch. When at last the Spanish ships were 
sighted the 
English cap- 
tains were 
engaged i n 
a game 
of b ow 1 s 
on shore. 
Drakecoolly 
remarked: 

" We have 
time enough 
to finish the 
game and 
beat the 
Spaniards, 
too." 

Those 
grim old sea 
cl o g s did 
their work 
in a way 
that re- 
minds us of 
our own 
Dewey in 

Manila Bay. Sir Francis Drake. 

The Span- 
iards could not shoot any better three hundred years ago 
than now, while the English made almost every shot 




188 Young People's History of England. 

tell. After suffering heavy loss, the Spanish admiral 
found he was not only powerless before the smaller and 
nimbler fleet, but could not land his men. He decided 
that the best thing to do was to go home, and he made 
the attempt by sailing around Scotland ; but he ran into 
such a terrible storm that nearly all of what was left of 
his fleet were wrecked off the Orkney Islands. The ex- 
ploit and deliverance were so wonderful that the whole 
nation broke into thanks to heaven, and the destruction 
of the Spanish Armada will always rank as one of the 
most glorious events in the naval annals of England. 

The story of the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots is 
a sad one. It is hard to keep track of the family turn- 
ings of the kings and nobility, but you will remember 
that Mary was the half-sister of Elizabeth and the next 
in the order of succession, but she claimed to be first, on 
the ground that Elizabeth was the daughter of Anne 
Boleyn, who was not the lawful wife of Henry VIII., 
while Mary was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII. 
Her first marriage was to Francis II., King of France, 
and she was educated in the Catholic faith. The early 
death of her husband caused her to return to Scotland in 
1561, where she assumed the throne, but the sober- 
minded Scots did not like her gay ways nor the faith 
she professed. 

In 1565 Mary married her cousin, Lord Darnley, 
who led her a dog's life. Thoroughly depraved himself, 
he became so jealous of her Italian secretary, Rizzio 
(refse-o), that one day in 1566 he rushed into her apart- 
ment, where she was engaged with her secretary and 




189 



190 Young People's History of England. 

others, and stabbed him to death. Some time afterward 
Darnley's house was blown up with gunpowder and he 
was killed, and you could not have found a single person 
who did not believe the queen arranged the whole 
business ; and I do not feel called upon to say they were 
in error, especially when, three months later, Mary married 
the Earl of Bothwell, a dissolute fellow, who no doubt 
was also concerned in the crime. 

Be that as it may, matters had gone so far that the 
Scots could stand no more of it. The nobles rose in re- 
volt, compelled Mary to abdicate her throne, and impris- 
oned her in Loch Levin Castle, about twenty miles north 
of Edinburgh. She succeeded, however, in making her 
escape, raised a small army, which was defeated, and, as 
a last resort, fled to England and threw herself upon the 
mercy of Elizabeth. But the latter could never forgive 
her for assuming the title of Queen of England. The 
Catholics formed many plots to help Mary, and in one 
of them she was charged with conspiring to take the life 
of Elizabeth. She was found guilty of being an accom- 
plice in this plot, and the queen signed the order for her 
execution. Accordingly she was beheaded in 1587, at 
Fotheringay Castle, in Northamptonshire. The building 
was demolished by James I. 

This act caused so much indignation that Elizabeth 
was frightened, and she pretended that the blame rested 
upon the minister who advised it. She threw her secre- 
tary into the Tower and fined him ten thousand pounds, 
thereby reducing him to beggary. Still further, she had 
the audacity to write a letter of condolence to James VI., 



192 Young People's History of England. 

son of Mary ; and yet, if there is one historical fact 
established beyond all question, it is that Elizabeth was 
the real executioner of Mary Queen of Scots. 

Queen Elizabeth was an extraordinary woman. If 
she was shrewd, knowing when to yield and when to re- 
main firm, she was often the victim of her terrific temper. 
When angry she would swear like a scullion, beat her 
maids of honor, box a nobleman's ears or spit on a 
courtier. Some of the letters she wrote to high dignita- 
ries were coarsely abusive and profane, and she did not 
hesitate to insult any one who displeased her. "In her 
diplomatic relations she never hesitated at a lie if it would 
serve her purpose, and when the falsehood was discovered 
she always had another and more plausible one to take its 
place.'' And yet she had good sense and sound judgment. 

The queen's last days were clouded with a settled 
melancholy. She was fond of the impetuous Earl of 
Essex, who fell into disfavor and plotted an insurrection 
against her, for which he was declared guilty of treason 
and beheaded in 1601. It is said that she learned after- 
ward that a ring given to him by the queen when they 
were friends had been sent to her by the earl when about 
to be condemned to death, but the messenger treacherously 
kept it back. Elizabeth never recovered from the grief 
caused by this discovery and pined away, dying in 1603, 
at the age of seventy, and in the forty-fifth year of her 
reign. With her death closed the Tudor line. 

The Tudor period, as has been shown, was a grand 
one in the history of England. It saw the discoveries of 
Columbus, the Cabots, Magellan and other famous navi- 



194 Young People's History of England. 



gators. Copernicus, a Prussian astronomer, proved that 
the earth both turns on its axis and revolves around the 

sun, and the 
latter part 
of the period 
has received 
the name of 
the "Golden 
Age of Eng- 
lish Litera- 
ture." Syd- 
ney, Hook- 
er, Jewell 
a n d More 
were the 
leading 
prose wri- 
t e r s, while 
the poets 
included 
8 p e n s e r, 
M a r 1 o w e, 
Jonson and 
the immor- 
tal Shake- 
speare. It 
was in 1574 
that a thea- 
tre was erected in London, followed soon after by a 
second, and at both Shakespeare acted in some of his 




iam Shakespeare. 



House of Stuart. 195 

own plays, the equal of which the world has never 
seen. 

The geographical discoveries gave a marked impulse 
to foreign trade with Africa, Brazil and North America. 
Commerce increased with the East Indies, and in 1600 
that immense corporation, the East India Company, was 
formed and laid the foundation of England's great Indian 
empire. Ships brought cargoes directly home by way of 
the Cape of Good Hope. Sir Francis Drake, that fine 
old buccaneer, did a highly prosperous business in plun- 
dering Spanish treasure-ships and settlements, and loyally 
divided his stupendous profits with Queen Elizabeth, 
while Sir John Hawkins became a bloated capitalist 
through his industry in kidnapping negroes on the 
Guinea coast in Africa and selling them to the Spanish 
West Indian colonies. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

HOUSE OF STUART. 1603-1714. 

JAMES I., CHARLES I. (1603-1642). 

BEFORE Queen Elizabeth died she willed that her 
successor should be James L, who was the son of 
Mary Queen of Scots. The title belonged to him 
by right of birth, and he had been proclaimed King of 
Scotland under the title of James VI., after the abdica- 



196 



Young People's History of England, 



tion of Mary in 1567, and while he was still an infant. 
When, therefore, he came to the English throne England 
and Scotland were united under one ruler, although they 
continued for about a hundred years longer to have sepa- 
rate legislatures. 

James was crowned on the 25th of July, 1603, on a 
dark and gloomy day, when the rain was falling and 
while an awful plague was raging in London. You have 
heard the expression about the " divine right of kings." 
It means that a monarch who rightfully 
comes to the throne is thus appointed of 
heaven, and that his will is above all other 
law. No Parliament or body of men, or 
the nation itself, has the right to interfere 
with his wishes. He can do as he pleases, 
riding over law, wringing taxes from the 
people, putting them in prison, or chopping 
off their heads, just as the whim takes him. 
Such a claim is frightful, wicked and un- 
bearable, and the monarch who attempts to rule a nation 
on that principle is sure to come to grief. 

More crimes are committed in the name of religion 
than from all other causes combined. Strange that men 
when cutting and hacking at one another, shooting down 
and mangling and killing or burning at the stake, never 
stop to think that instead of being the Christians they 
claim to be, they are simply agents of the devil, and that 
all such are sure to get their payment from the arch 
enemy of our souls. 

King James found three powerful religious parties 




Royal Arras borne 
by James Land 
succeeding Stu- 
art sovereigns. 



House of Stuart. 197 

in his kingdom : The Established Church, the Roman 
Catholics and the Puritans, and of course they hated one 
another with an inextinguishable hatred, while all were 
hopeful of favors from the monarch. The Papists 
counted on the fact that the king's mother had been a 
Catholic ; the Puritans because the king owed so much to 
the Presbyterians of Scotland, and it was also said 
he had promised them his support ; while the Established 
Church took it for granted that in his exalted position 
he would be its champion ; and, as it turned out, they 
were right, for he threw all his influence on its side. As 
a matter of course, the two other parties were angered and 
made trouble. 

A plot was set on foot to overthrow the government 
and religion of the realm and place Lady Arabella Stuart, 
a descendant of Henrv VIL, on the throne. Sir Walter 
Raleigh, one of the greatest geniuses of his age, who had 
done his country inestimable services as a navigator, a 
discoverer and gallant defender of the crown, was de- 
clared guilty of being in the plot, and, sad to say, was 
beheaded in 1618. The crime was a foul blot on the 
name of James I., who did it to please Spain, because an 
expedition of Raleigh, while hunting for a gold mine in 
South America, plundered some of the Spanish settle- 
ments of that region. 

Previous to this, toward the close of 1604, the Catholics 
proved how bitterly they hated the oppressive monarch 
by an attempt to blow up both houses of Parliament. 
The leader in the daring scheme was Robert Catesby, a 
member of a good family and a gentleman of means. He 

14— Ellis' England. 



198 Young People's History of England. 

and his conspirators rented a cellar under the govern- 
ment house, to which they carried, as they gained the 
chance, thirty-six barrels of gunpowder, and covered 
them over with fagots of wood. Guy Fawkes, a Flemish 
soldier and a bigoted Papist, agreed to touch off this fear- 
ful charge by means of slow matches that would allow 
him time to take care of himself. He slipped into the 
cellar each day to make sure everything was right, or 
rather all wrong. The meeting of Parliament was put 
off from time to time, but finally it was fixed for the 5th 
of November, and it was settled that the powder should 
be fired on that night. 

Now one of the members of Parliament was Lord 
Mounteagle, a Roman Catholic gentleman, and, with a 
view of saving his life, a note was sent to him, warning 
him not to go to Parliament on the night of November 5. 
He showed the note to several of his friends, suspicion 
was aroused, and an investigation made. 

Late on the afternoon of November 4, the Lord 
Chamberlain and Lord Mounteagle went down into the 
cellar under the Parliament building. They came upon 
a tall, desperate-looking fellow, who was Guy Fawkes. 
They had a brief conversation with him, but without 
showing their suspicion went away, leaving him behind. 
They knew, however, that foul work was on foot, and 
shortly after midnight, when Fawkes opened the door of 
the cellar, he was seized by a squad of soldiers, bound, and 
carried off. The evidences of his intended crime were so 
clear that no doubt could remain. He was put to the 
torture; but, as the common expression goes, he was 




199 



200 Young People's History of England. 

" game," and could not be made to tell the names of any 
of the conspirators. Most of them, however, betrayed 
themselves by flight, and in one way or another all came 
to a miserable end. Catesby was shot while defending 
himself against the party sent to arrest him, and most of 
the others perished on the scaffold. This incident is re- 
ferred to as the Gunpowder Plot; and now on the 5th of 
every November, in England, thanks for the deliverance 
of the country are given in the churches, and the people 
take a certain grim pleasure in burning Guy Fawkes in 
effigy. 

You will be interested in knowing how King James 
looked. His body was feeble and rickety, he wabbled 
when he walked, his tongue was too large for his mouth, 
so that he "chewed" his words when he talked, and he 
had big, goggle eyes. He was so cowardly that he was 
in constant fear of assassination, and wore thickly padded 
and quilted clothes, which were generally green in color ; 
while, worst of all, the flattery of his courtiers had not 
only led him to write verses and books which were with- 
out the least merit, but had filled him with the most in- 
sufferable conceit. 

The reign of James I. must always have a special in- 
terest for us, since it saw some of the most important 
English settlements planted in America. Jamestown, 
named in his honor, was begun in Virginia, and the per- 
secuted Pilgrims, finding no rest in England, crossed the 
stormy Atlantic in the Mayflower, landed on Plymouth 
Rock, and founded New England. 

One of the most important events of James's reign 



House of Stuart. 201 

was a new translation of the Bible. It was carried out 
by a number of learned men appointed by him, and was 
first published in 1611. The King James version sup- 
planted all others among the English-speaking people, 
and is the Sacred Word with which your parents and 
grandparents, and I trust you, also, are familiar, and it 
has retained its exalted place until partly supplanted by 
the new version made a few years ago. 

Francis Bacon, one of the most intellectual men that 
ever lived, was prominent during the reign of James I. 
Possessed of prodigious talent, he rewarded his patron 
with ingratitude, and won favors from the king by cring- 
ing to him. When Lord Chancellor he brazenly accepted 
bribes, and his conduct became so scandalous that he was 
brought to trial, and, on his own written confession, con- 
victed of twenty-three acts of corruption. He was fined, 
imprisoned and declared unfit to sit in parliament, but 
his fine was remitted, and his imprisonment lasted only a 
few days. He did not again appear in parliament, how- 
ever. Instead, he devoted himself to literature, and his 
works embraced all subjects, for his mind was one of the 
most capacious and profound ever known. He died, 
deeply in debt, April 9, 1626, leaving a great name, but 
one stained by moral perversity. 

King James opened negotiations with the Court of 
France for the marriage of his son, Prince Charles, with 
Henrietta Maria, the sister of the French king. They 
were successful ; but before the arrival of the princess 
in England the king died, March 27, 1625. His death 
was due to confirmed drunkenness and gluttony ; and an 



202 Young People's History of England. 

eminent Frenchman said of him, when he passed away, 
that he had been " the wisest fool in Christendom." 

On July 16, 1625, Charles I. with his French bride 
passed up the Thames to the royal palace at Whitehall. 
The new king had a higher notion of the " divine right 
of kings" than even his father, and the storm that had 
been gathering during the latter's reign broke in awful 
fury under Charles. 

He began his reign with two fatal blunders. The 
Duke of Buckingham, one of the most detested men in 
the kingdom, had been his father's chief adviser, and 
the king, well aware of all this, retained him. Then his 
early marriage to Henrietta Maria offended his country- 
men, for she was not only a Catholic, but frightfully 
extravagant. To meet her incessant demands for money 
and to carry on a petty war with Spain the king was 
forced to apply to Parliament, which firmly told him that 
he could not have the funds unless he granted certain 
reforms, long clamored for by the people. Since this was 
a flagrant outrage of his "divine right" he refused and 
dissolved the body. 

But there was no getting on without Parliament, and 
the king had to call a new one. Almost the first thing 
done when the members came together was to draw up 
articles of impeachment, which accused the Duke of 
Buckingham of mismanagement. To save his favorite 
from trial Charles dissolved Parliament. But his need 
for money was so urgent that he resorted to illegal 
methods, in direct violation of the Magna Charta. John 
Hampden, a country gentleman of Buckinghamshire, 



House of Stuart. 



203 



boldly refused to pay the tax demanded of him, and was 
thrown into 
prison. This 
added to the 
angry excite- 
ment, an d 
when the king 
was obliged 
once more to 
convene Parli- 
ament, Hamp- 
den, and others 
who sympa- 
thized with 
h i m, were 
elected mem- 
bers. 

The law- 
makers were 
in a rebellious 
mood, but the 
Petition of 
Right pre- 
sented to the 
king was a 
calm, dispas- 
sionate docu- 
ment, which 

only reasserted some of the chief provisions of the Great 
Charter. It declared that no taxes should be laid without 




King Charles I. 



204 Young People's History of England. 

the consent of Parliament and condemned the arbitrary 
imprisonment of Hampden. At first the king angrily 
refused to sign it, but seeing no other way of getting 
money, he finally did so, and then proceeded to violate 
the law like a true, "divine" king. 

I have told you of the wicked Duke of Buckingham. 
Inspired by revenge, he induced Charles to give him 
command of a body of troops to aid the French Protes- 
tants, or Huguenots, as they were called. A small force 
of them were in the city of Rochelle (ro-shel'), besieged 
by a large number of royal troops. The first attempt to 
help them failed, and the following year (1628) the 
Duke of Buckingham went to Portsmouth to prepare a 
second expedition. While so engaged he was assassin- 
ated by a Puritan fanatic, who gloried in the act which, 
he declared, had delivered true religion of its greatest 
enemy. 

The king revived "monopolies," which had been 
abolished by Elizabeth. These granted to certain persons, 
in return for large sums of money, the sole right of deal- 
ing in almost every article of food, clothing, drink and 
fuel. The monarch's course roused deep anger, but he 
persisted, and for eleven years ruled without calling Par- 
liament together. During that long period, aided by his 
willing tools, he was a merciless autocrat. One of his 
principal means of oppressing his countrymen was through 
the Star Chamber, which was of ancient origin, and de- 
rived its name from the chamber of the king's palace at 
Westminster in which it formerly met, the ceiling of the 
apartment being decorated with stars. Acting without a 




Assassination of the Duke of Buckingham. 



(205) 



206 Young People's History of England. 

jury, its powers were absolute. It was abolished by act 
of Parliament in 1641. 

The king chose Thomas Wentworth, afterward Earl 
of Strafford, and William Laud, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, as his chief advisers. They were with the monarch, 
body and soul, in all his high-handed schemes. The 
archbishop and the king tried to place bishops over the 
churches of Scotland and compel them to use a prayer- 
book. The whole nation sturdily refused and defied the 
king. He felt it necessary to send an army thither, but 
without Parliament he had no way of raising the large 
amount of money required. Finally, in 1640, he had to 
give way and summon another Parliament. This remained 
in session for twenty years, because of which it is known 
in history as the Long Parliament. The detested Straf- 
ford and Laud were impeached, and, as required by law, 
after being accused by the Commons, they were tried by 
the Lords, which pronounced them guilty. Strafford was 
beheaded, and Laud, after an imprisonment of four years 
in the Tower, suffered a like fate. A law was passed de- 
claring that Parliament could not be closed without its own 
consent, and some of the king's ministers were so scared 
that they fled the country. In 1641, when Earl Strafford 
was executed, a fearful insurrection broke out in Ireland 
against the government and many English were massacred. 

It must be borne in mind that, despite the tyrannous 
course of the king, he had a good many supporters in 
Parliament and in the country, but there were still more 
who opposed him. The enmity intensified so rapidly that 
civil war was in the air. 




Tiie Earl of Strafford led to execution. 



(207) 



208 Young People's History of England. 

At that time England bad no standing army. Many 
of the farmers and tradesmen had to meet on certain days 
each year to be drilled, and they were liable to be called 
upon in case of war. Among the bravest opponents in 
Parliament of the king were John Pym and John Hamp- 
den, the leaders of their party. They drew up a paper, 
called "The Grand Remonstrance," which demanded 
among other things that Parliament, and not the king, 
should appoint the officers of the militia. The paper 
also named in plain language the many unlawful things 
that Charles had done during his reign. 

Instead of bowing to the storm, the angry king 
ordered the arrest of Pym, Hampden and three others 
on the charge of high treason. No attention was paid 
by Parliament to his order to give them up for trial. His 
queen, who, if possible, was in a greater rage than he, 
told him to go to Parliament himself and drag the rogues 
out by the ears. The king strode thither with an armed 
force, but did not find the offenders. They had been 
warned, and slipped out before he reached the building. 

A few months later King Charles left London, calling 
upon all those who were his friends to gather about him, 
and raised the royal standard at Nottingham. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

INTERREGNUM THE COMMONWEALTH. 

1642-1660. 

ON the 25th of April, 1599, a yeoman in Hunting- 
don, England, had a son born to him whom he 
named Oliver Cromwell. Little is known of the 
boyhood of this wonderful man, but at the age of seven- 
teen he entered Sidney-Sussex College, at Cambridge. He 
married the daughter of a knight of London, and 
lived at his father's place as a country gentleman for a 
number of years. All that time he took a deep interest 
in passing events, and became a devout and' intensely 
earnest Puritan. In 1629, when he had been elected a 
member of Parliament, he boldly denounced what he 
considered the Popish tendencies of the Established 
Church. 

Now that King Charles had raised his standard, he 
gathered his supporters from the nobility, clergy and 
landed gentry. Among his friends, also, were those that 
were attached to the Established Church and all the 
Roman Catholics. These royalists came to be known as 
Cavaliers, and many of them, after disaster came, emi- 
grated to Virginia and helped settle that colony. The 
supporters of Parliament were mainly composed of the 

(209) 



210 Young People's History of England. 




A gentleman. A gentlewoman. 
Civil costumes time of Charles I. 



yeomanry of the country, the townspeople, and the dis- 
senters or Puritans. They were called, in contempt, 
Roundheads, because of their custom of wearing their 

hair cropped short. 

At first the parliamentary 
forces were led by the Earl of 
Sussex, and those of the king 
by the Earl of Lindsay, whose 
cavalry was commanded by 
the distinguished Prince Ru- 
pert. The first fight took place 
at Edgehill, in 1642, and there 
Lindsay was mortally wounded 
and taken prisoner. Neither 
side gained much advantage; but the king's opponents 
suffered an irreparable loss in 1643, when John Hampden 
was killed in a skirmish. 
Other battles were fought dur- 
ing the same year, the most 
important being that at New- 
bury, but still without any 
decisive advantage to either 
side. 

Meanwhile overtures had 
been m a d e to Scotland to 
unite with the forces against 
the king. This was brought 
about mainly through the address of Sir Henry Vane. 
A strong army was'sent into England, but it was offset 
by the force the king succeeded in gaining from Ireland 




A citizen. A citizen's wife. 

Civil costumes time of Charles I. 




Charge of Cromwell's horsemen at Marston Moor. 



211) 



212 Young People's History of England. 

in 1643. The parliamentary troops in the north, under 
Lord Fairfax, formed a junction with the Scotch and laid 
siege to York, but Prince Rupert arrived with an army 
powerful enough to raise the siege. The battle of Mars- 
ton Moor followed, and was a severe defeat for the royal- 
ists. In this engagement Oliver Cromwell displayed the 
most intrepid bravery and superb military skill, routing 
Prince Rupert's cavalry and capturing his artillery. A 
little while afterward the command of the parliamentary 
army was given to Sir Thomas Fairfax, a man of fine 
military ability, but he was so strong an admirer of Oliver 
Cromwell that it may be said he was really Cromwell's 
assistant. 

In 1645 the battle of Naseby was fought, and the 
royalists were again decisively defeated. In this battle 
Cromwell once more demonstrated his amazing valor and 
military skill. The defeat of the Cavaliers was so crush- 
ing that King Charles gave himself up to the Scottish 
army in 1646, expecting kind treatment, but the Scots 
turned him over to the English Parliament, which held 
him a prisoner until 1647. A little later the Puritans 
gained the ascendancy over the Presbyterians, and Crom- 
well, being a Puritan, secured through his influence with 
the army control of Parliament. Becoming impatient 
with the views of the Presbyterian members, he sur- 
rounded the house with an armed force and drove out all 
except the most determined Presbyterians. Since the 
soldiers were commanded by Colonel Pride, this unlaw, 
ful invasion of Parliament has often been derisively 
called " Colonel Pride's Purge." 



214 Young People's History of England. 

The king offered concessions to Parliament which 
the Presbyterians were disposed to accept, but Cromwell 
and his friends had been given too many proofs of his 
treachery to trust his most solemn pledges. A resolution 
was adopted declaring that the king had been guilty of 
treason in levying war against Parliament, and a court 
was organized to try him. This court included 133 
members, and was presided over by a lawyer named 
John Bradshaw. The king refused to acknowledge its 
authority, but, all the same, it found him guilty, and 
three days later, January 30, 1649, he was beheaded, 
being the only ruler of England to suffer such a death. 

There was wide protest against the execution of 
Charles, several foreign nations interfering in his behalf. 
The Scots condemned the whole business from the begin- 
ning, and the Prince of Wales (afterward Charles II.) 
sent a blank sheet of paper, subscribed with his name 
and sealed with his arms, on which the judges might 
write what conditions they pleased to secure the king's 
release; but those stern, fanatical Puritans were not to be 
moved, and a few days later the Commons abolished the 
House of Lords and proclaimed the establishment of the 
Commonwealth. 

Cromwell had shown himself undeniably the ablest 
man in the kingdom. He was sent as Lord Lieutenant 
to Ireland, where he effectually put down a formidable 
rebellion. A revolt having broken out in Scotland, 
where the Covenanters had proclaimed Charles II. king 
and raised a large army, Cromwell was next sent 
thither. At the battle of Dunbar, in 1650, he utterly 




Execution of King Charles I. 



(215) 



216 Young People's History of England. 

routed the royalists. Then Charles decided to march 
into England, confident that the people would rise in a 
body to his support. But Cromwell overtook him at 
Worcester in 1651, and all of the Scottish army that were 
not killed were taken prisoners. Only with the greatest 
difficulty and after many exceedingly narrow escapes did 
Charles succeed in making his way out of England. 

England had now become a republic, and for a time 
its prosperity and success were amazing. Admiral Blake 
humbled the Portuguese, and Ireton, whom Cromwell 
had left in Ireland, completed the subjugation of that 
country, while Scotland was brought under by General 
Monk, another of Cromwell's trusted officers. The Dutch 
republic was the leading maritime nation in the world, 
and was so overbearing in her treatment of England's 
interests that Parliament passed the Navigation Act, of 
which you learned something in your History of the 
United States. This law prohibited all nations from 
bringing any goods into England or her colonies except 
in English ships, or in the ships of the country where 
the goods were produced. This was so severe a blow to 
Holland that war followed, with the result that the Dutch 
received crushing defeats in 1651-3 at the hands of the 
great sea-hero Blake. 

Although England, as I have said, claimed to be a 
republic, it could not long remain so. Cromwell was the 
brains and power of the government. Finding Parlia- 
ment becoming jealous of his power he went to the house 
with 300 soldiers, roundly scolded the members, sent 
them scrambling out of the chamber, locked the doors, 



The Commonwealth, 



217 



put the key in his pocket and went home. The army was 
at his back, and he became the supreme government. He 
issued writs for the election of 156 persons, who made a 




Admiral Blake defeats the Dutch fleet. 



new Parliament. They were only plastic tools of Crom- 
well, fanatical, narrow-minded, bigoted, and given to long 
prayers and much psalm-singing. One of the leaders was 



218 Young People's History of England. 

a leather dealer with the ridiculous name of Praise-God- 
Barebones, from which fact this body of lawmakers was 
called in derision "Barebones' Parliament/' though a 
better title was the other of the " Little Parliament." 

Cromwell soon got tired of the absurd body, dissolved 
it, and caused himself to be appointed Lord Protector. 
His assistants were to be a Council of State, and he was 
required to summon Parliament every three years. It 
was this Council which made him Lord Protector of Eng- 
land, Ireland and Scotland, or, in other words, president, 
who was to hold office during his life. Some years later 
a second constitution was drafted, known as " The Hum- 
ble Petition and Advice," which offered Cromwell the 
crown. He wished to accept it, but learning that the 
army would not sustain him, was forced to decline. It is 
said also that his favorite daughter, Elizabeth Claypole, 
solemnly warned him against such a step, and he esteemed 
her counsel above all others. He made an attempt to restore 
the House of Lords, but the members refused to attend. 

I have mentioned in another place that the tyranny 
of the Stuarts compelled many Puritans to emigrate to 
New England, but the situation was changed during the 
Commonwealth, when numbers of the royalists fled to 
Virginia. That this was one of the best things that 
could have happened is proven by the fact that among 
these Cavaliers were John Washington, great-grandfather 
of George Washington, and the ancestors of the Lees, 
Randolphs, of Patrick Henry and of Thomas Jefferson, 
destined to become the foremost citizens in the greatest 
republic of the world. 



The Commonwealth. 



219 



You have learned enough about Oliver Cromwell to 
know that he was one of the most remarkable men that 
ever lived. He was as autocratic as King Charles, but 
the vast difference between the two lay in the fact that 




"His favorite daughter warned him against the step." 

Charles was wholly selfish and cared only for his own 
interests, while Cromwell was actuated from first to last 
by genuine love for his country and its people. He 
would not have succeeded had he not possessed an iron 



220 Young People's History of England. 

will and resolution which hesitated at no obstacles. More- 
over, although supreme among the Puritans and bigots, 
he was never a bigot himself. He was charitably inclined 
toward the religious opinions of others, and more than 
once interfered not only to stop persecution of Protes- 
tants in other portions of Europe, but he laid a restrain- 
ing hand on the fanatical of his own sect. Virginia re- 
fused to acknowledge his authority for a time, and its 
governor, Berkeley, insisted on receiving his commission 
from the exiled Charles; but Cromwell treated the colony 
so leniently that it scarcely felt the change of masters. 

Cromwell befriended the Quakers when they were 
persecuted in Europe and America, and was instrumental 
in sending the first Protestant missionaries to Massachu- 
setts to convert the Indians. The Jews, who had been 
cruelly expelled from England centuries before, were al- 
lowed to come back, and even to build a synagogue [ n 
London. But many of his followers were bigoted to an 
extent that you would hardly believe. They insisted 
upon closing all places of amusement; condemned mirth 
as a sin, and declared it wicked to dance round a May- 
pole or to eat mince-pie on Christmas ! They cannot be 
so severely blamed for forbidding fox-hunting and horse- 
racing, for many in these days look upon such practices 
as wrong. It was said of the Puritans that they frowned 
upon bear-baiting, " not because it gave pain to the bear, 
but because it gave pleasure to the spectators." The 
most religious man was he who never smiled, wore sad- 
colored clothing, talked through his nose, and quoted Scrip- 
ture in every sentence. Cromwell was not one of them. 



The Commonwealth. 



221 



The last years of the Protector's life were stormy. 
Fears of a royalist uprising led him to divide the 
country into 
eleven mili- 
tary districts, 
each under a 
major-gener- 
al, who ruled 



by 

law. 
well 
have 
morbid 



martial 

Crom- 

must 

grown 

tow- 




ard the last, 
for he was in 
constant fear 
of assassina- 
tion, wore 
armor under 
his clothes, 
and always 
carried his 
pistols with 
him. The 
death of his 
daughter, the 
dearly loved 
Elizabeth 
C 1 a y p o 1 e, 
caused a gloomy depression of spirits in him. Finally 



Oliver Cromwell. 



222 Young People's History of England. 



he fell into a fever, and on one of the stormiest nights 
of the year, September 3, 1658, the anniversary of his 
great victories of Dunbar and Worcester, he passed away, 
in the sixtieth year of his age. 

Richard, his eldest son, succeeded his father as Pro- 
tector; but although of an amiable disposition, he was 

wholly lacking in 
the stern will and 
great ability of his 
parent. He had the 
support of General 
Monk, who com- 
manded the army 
in Scotland, and of 
his own brother 
Henry, Lord Lieu- 
tenant in Ireland; 
but nature never in- 
tended him for the 
difficult work before him. A Parliament was called, but 
it gave offence to the army officers ; and after a negative 
reign, if such it may be called, lasting only eight months, 
in response to a request from the military leaders, Richard 
gladly resigned. 

Parliament having been dissolved, the supreme author- 
ity for the time rested with the army, who ruled by a 
council of officers. The country being threatened by 
anarchv and civil war, General Monk marched his forces 
into England and subdued the contending factions. Monk 
was an able and patriotic man, and he determined to call 




A coach of the middle of the seventeenth century. 



The Commonwealth. 



223 



a Parliament that should be free and the true representa- 
tive of the political wishes of the nation. When he 
reached London, he found that the Eump Parliament 
had resumed its sessions. 
He invited the P r e s b y- 
terian members, wdio had 
been driven out of their 
seats eleven years before 
by Colonel Pride, to re- 
turn. Then the body issued 
writs for the summoning 
of a Convention Parlia- 
ment (so called because it 
was done without royal 
authority), and the body 
which had been in session 
for twenty years dissolved 
by its own consent. 

A month later, the Con- 
vention, including ten mem- 
bers of the House of Lords, assembled, and on May 29, 
1660, proclaimed Charles II. king. This event is known 
in the history of England as the Restoration". 




General Monk. 



CHAPTER XV. 

HOUSE OF STUART (CONCLUDED). 1603-1714. 

CHARLES II., JAMES II., WILLIAM AND MARY, WILLIAM 

in., anne.— (1660-1714). 



CHARLES II. was joyfully welcomed back to the 
throne, but it proved an evil day for England. 
He was a bad man, whose whole aim in life was to 
gratify his own pleasure, and he cared nothing for the good 

of his countrymen, who had 
bestowed such a high honor 
on him. A reaction from the 
severe uprightness of the 
Puritan Commonwealth set in. 
Everything relating to reli- 
gion and goodness was sneered 
at, and all that the favored 
ones thought of or cared for 
was pleasure and self-indul- 
gence, and the king set the 
example. 

Although an act was passed 
pardoning all who had taken part in the rebellion against 
the House of Stuart, exception was made in the case of 
the judges who sentenced Charles I. to death, and a 

(224) 




A mounted nobleman and his squire 
time of Charles II. 



House of Stuart. 



225 




number were executed. The bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, 
and other leaders were taken out of their graves, hanged 
on a gallows, and then their heads 
were cut off and fixed on Westmin- 
ster Hall. A number succeeded in 
fleeing from the country, and in the 
History of the United States you 
learned how one of them, hidden by 
his friends near Hadley, Massachu- 
setts, suddenly appeared among the 
settlers during an attack by In- 
dians, and through his bravery and 
skill saved them from massacre. 

The king needed SO niUCll money Yeoman of the Guard: time 

to squander in dissipation that Dun- of Charles 11. 

kirk, acquired under the Common- 
wealth, was sold in 1664 to the 
French. In the same year a war was 
begun against the Hutch and New 
JNetherland, in America, and some of 
the Dutch settlements in Africa were 
captured, while the Dutch gained the 
Barbadoes and several other Eng- 
lish dependencies. After the defeat 
of a Dutch fleet off the eastern coast 
of England, in 1665, the French 
took sides with the Dutch republic, 
but their combined fleets were over- 
come by the English under the Duke of Albemarle (whom 
you will remember as General Monk) and Prince Eu- 




Dress of the Horse Guards 
at the Restoration. 



226 Young People's History of England. 

pert. This tremendous battle, fought in 1666, lasted four 
days. 

You have heard of the Great Plague of London. It 
broke out about this time, and raged with such awful vio- 
lence that 100,000 people died in six months in 1665 in 
London alone. When it was at its height in 1666 a fire 
started, and burned for three days, during which ninety 
churches and more than 13,000 dwelling-houses were laid 
in ashes; but it ended the Great Plague, which was caused 
by the uncleanliness of living on the part of the people. 

Hardly was the vast fire done smouldering when a 
Dutch fleet, a part of which was manned by English 
sailors who had deserted because of their brutal treat- 
ment by the government, sailed up the Thames, burned a 
number of men-of-war and threatened to blockade the 
city, which escaped that fate through the king making 
a shameful peace. Charles was so lacking in all the 
qualities of honor that he now resorted to a base act to 
secure money. The most powerful monarch in Europe 
was Louis XIV. of France, who wished to conquer Hol- 
land and extend the power of Romanism. He made a 
secret treaty with Charles at Dover, by which the English 
king agreed to help him in both designs, the price paid 
to Charles being a sum equal to a million and a half of 
dollars. This, you will note, was done without the 
knowledge of Parliament ; and, in addition, the French 
king agreed to pay Charles a pension of a million dollars 
a year from the time he openly avowed himself a Catholic. 
You must bear in mind that the sums named were more 
than double their value at the present day. 




Midni^tCarou^attheCourtofK 

• _ „„A ins £)< 



Charles II. 



lw , t the Court oi xvi"a 

Midnight Carousal at tiie troub les sat very 

* W. reien and his P^^nal trouD le 



228 



Young People's History of England. 



In 1672 England joined France in the war against 
the Dutch. While the fleets were fighting on the water, 
the French armies invaded the republic, capturing many 
of the cities, until the inhabitants, in desperation, opened 
the sluices and allowed the sea to flow in and drown 




The great fire in London. 

thousands of their enemies. During those dark days the 
Dutch forces were commanded by the valiant William, 
Prince of Orange, of whom you shall presently hear 
more. The infamous act of helping France against the 
poor, patriotic Hollanders became so distasteful in Eng- 



House of Stuart. 



229 



land that i n 
1674 the king 
was compelled 
to make peace 
with the Dutch 
provinces. 

An execra- 
ble scoundrel 
named Titus 
Oates threw 
the country 
into a panic by 
declaring that 
the Catholics 
had formed a 
plot to burn 
London, mas- 
sacre the in- 
habitants, slay 
the king and 
restore the 
Romanist reli- 
gion. Before 
it was learned 
that there was 
not the slight- 
est ground for 
the hideous 
charge h u n- 
dreds of inno- 

1Q— Ellis' England, 




)/ .-.v.. <,*,!.*; 



King Charles II. 



230 



Young People's History of England. 



cent persons had been put to death. About this time 
the political parties came to be known as "Whigs" 
and "Tories." The term "Whig" was first applied as 
a term of reproach to the Scotch Puritans, or Covenant- 




Titus Oates in the pillory. 



ers, who refused to accept the Episcopal forms which 
Charles I. tried to force upon them. "Tory" was a 
nickname originally given to the Catholic outlaws of 
Ireland, and was now applied to those who supported the 
claims of the king's brother James, the Catholic Duke 



House of Stuart. 



231 



of York, as successor of Charles, while those who opposed 
were called Whigs. 

A famous measure was passed in 1679, known as the 
Habeas Corpus act. The words " habeas corpus " mean 
"have the body," and the writ or order of the court re- 
quires any person restraining another from liberty to 
have his body, that is to produce the prisoner before the 
court, so that the reason may be 
known why he is denied his liberty. 

In his rage against the Whigs, 
Charles took away the charters of 
London and other cities, which could 
regain them only on terms favorable 
to the Tories. Then the "Rye 
House Plot" was formed in 1683, 
which had for its object the murder 
of the king and his brother James 
at a place called the Rye House, 
near London, and to place on the 
throne the Duke of Monmouth, pop- 
ularly known as the "Protestant 
Duke." The plot was discovered 
and the leaders executed. Shortly 

after this incident Charles died, and his brother the Duke 
of York came to the throne as James II. 

James had proven himself an able naval commander, 
but he was unpopular on account of his religion, which 
was Catholic, and to which he was devotedly attached. 
He had been on the throne only a short time when a 
number of political refugees, headed by the Duke of 




Ordinary dress of gentlemen 
in 1675. 



232 Young People's History of England. 




Monmouth, who had been banished to Holland, invaded 

England, expecting that there would be a wholesale rising 
to their support; but the rebels were 
defeated, and the Duke was executed in 
1685. Scores of others who had taken 
part in the rebellion were hanged by the 
brutal and infamous Judge Jeffreys. 

Great dissatisfaction was caused by 
the zeal of the king in promoting the 
Catholics to power. One step was to 
issue a proclamation allowing liberty of 
conscience and declaring that non-con- 
formity to the established religion should 
not be punished. He ordered that this 
proclamation should be read in all the 

churches, but the clergy refused to obey the command. 

Seven bishops presented a petition 

against the order, which so angered 

the king (1688) that he caused their 

arrest and imprisonment in the 

Tower. This action produced in- 
tense excitement, and the crowds 

who attended the bishops as they 

were conducted to the Tower ex- 
pressed their sympathy and love 

in every possible way. At the 

trial they were acquitted, even the 

soldiers showing their feeling in 

you have not forgotten William, 



Dress of ladies of qual- 
ity : time of James 
II. 




Ordinary attire of women of the 
lower classes: time of James 
II. 



who made so valiant a 



fight 



in 



their favor. Now, 

Prince of Orange, 

Holland against the 



House of Stuart. 



233 



armies of the French king. He had married Mary, 
eldest daughter of James II., and both were Protestants. 
James, who had married a second time, had an infant son 
born to him; but, knowing that he would be brought up a 
Catholic, many declared that he was the son of poor 
parents, and had been secretly carried into the palace and 
then shown as heir to the 
throne. Yielding to the 
earnest requests of the 
English people, William 
and Mary went to Eng- 
land with a large fleet 
and army to place them- 
selves at the head of the 
government. By the time 
they had landed, the king 
saw that only one course 
was left to him, and he 
lost no time in following 
it. He fled to France, 
and a convention of 
representatives in Janu- 
ary, 1689, bestowed the 

crown upon William and Mary for their lives, with the 
succession settled on the princess Anne, second daughter 
of James II., who was the wife of Prince George of Den- 
mark. The convention which took this important step 
agreed also upon a Declaration of Rights, fixing the 
powers of the king and clearly defining the principles of 
the government. When Parliament met it confirmed 




The Duke of Monmouth. 



234 Young People's History of England. 

the acts of the convention in an enactment called the Bill 
of Rights, making what is known in history as the Glo- 
rious Revolution of 1688. 

William and Mary were king and queen, but the 
government rested wholly in the hands of the former. 
Meanwhile, James did not submit tamely to his dethrone- 
ment. With the help of the French 
king, Louis XIV., he raised a large 
naval force and landed in Ireland, where 
most of the people were his friends. A 
good many rallied to his support, but at 
the Battle of the Boyne, fought in 1690, 
he was defeated and compelled again to 
flee to France. Ireland was subdued the 
following year, and the Scottish High- 
landers were induced to submit to the 
government. 

The war with France went on, but a 
disastrous defeat of the French fleet in 
1692 destroyed all of James's hopes of 
Costume of a gentle- ever regaining the English throne. The 

man: time of James fo rmal end Q f the war wag reaC hed ill 

1697 by the treaty of Ryswick. Mary 
died in 1694, and her husband became the sole ruler under 
the title of William IV. She was an amiable and good 
woman, and William was an excellent monarch, though 
his austerity made him personally unpopular. He died 
in 1702. 

Anne now became queen, and most of her reign was 
taken up with what is known as the War of the Spanish 




; J 




William of Orange hears of the birth of the Prinee of Wd- ) 



236 Young People's History of England. 

Succession. Louis XIV. of France tried to place one 
of his relatives on the throne of Spain. To prevent this 
dangerous extension of his power the Grand Alliance 
was formed, in 1701, on the part of England, Holland 
and Germany. Another cause of offence against Louis 
was that on the death of James II., in 1701, he acknowl- 
edged the son of James as the heir to the English 
throne. 

The Duke of Marlborough was in chief command of 
the English army and proved himself one of the most 
brilliant military men of his age. He made some con- 
quests in Flanders, and defeated the French and Bava- 
rians in the famous battle of Blenheim (blen'lmne) in 
1704. In the same year the English fleet captured Gib- 
raltar, which fortress has ever since remained in the pos- 
session of Great Britain. In 1706 Marlborough gained 
another great victory over the French at Bamilies (ram'e- 
leez), thus virtually conquering Flanders. In 1708 the 
French were again defeated at Ou'den-ar-de, followed the 
next year by a rout at Malplaquet (mal-plah'ka), a terrific 
battle, in which the English loss was 20,000 men. 

It was said of Marlborough that he never besieged a 
fortress which he did not take, nor fought a battle which he 
did not win, yet he was now dismissed in disgrace from his 
command. Moreover, he deserved the disgrace, for he was 
dishonest, treacherous, and without moral principle. He 
w T as so ignorant that he could hardly write his name. He 
betrayed James II., deceived William, and he would have 
betrayed Queen Anne had the bribe offered him been 
large enough. In his greed for money he stopped at 




King James II. at the Battle of the Boyne. 



- -^^-aatA«^NSAW ' hilIi 



238 



Young People's History of England. 



nothing, taking bribes from the contractors, robbing the 
soldiers of their pay, and stealing wherever he could ; yet 

his ability as a 
military leader 
was peerless. 
Gratitude for his 
magnificent servi- 
ces led to his res- 
toration to rank, 
and he died in 
1736. 

In 1707 Eng- 
land and Scotland 
were united under 
the name of Great 
Britain. You will 
remember that 
since the accession 
of James I. they 
had been ruled by 
one sovereign, but 
each country re- 
t a i n e d its own 
Parliament. With 
the union, Great 
Britain adopted a 
new flag, the 
Union Jack, 
formed by the junction of the red cross of St. George and 
the white cross of St. Andrew, the former the patron saint 




l?lKP^i^ 



Queen Anne. 



House of Stuart. 



239 



of England, and the latter of Scotland. (In 1801, after 
Ireland was united with Great Britain, the red cross of 
St. Patrick was added to the flag.) 

"Good Queen Anne" died in 1714, and with her 
ended the power of the Stuarts. All her children passed 
away in infancy except one sickly son, 
who did not survive long. According to 
the terms of the Act of Settlement, the 
crown was now bestowed upon George, 
Elector of Hanover, a Protestant descend- 
ant of James L, of England. Queen 
Anne's reign was noted not only for its 
military achievements, but for the extent 
of the progress in literature, so marked 
that it has been called the " Augustan 
Age of England." John Milton, the 
greatest of English poets, was born in 
1608, and, when Cromwell established 
his Protectorate, he became his secretary, 
and remained so until the death of Crom- 
well. Although he knew that unless he John churchiii, 
gave up his onerous duties he would lose Duke , of Marlbor - 

t- • w U 1. -11 • 1 *l «. 1 ough, as a young 

his eyesight, he heroically said that he ensign. 
preferred blindness to a desertion of his 
post of duty, and blindness did follow, relieved now and 
then by a partial restoration to sight. His Paradise Lost 
and other works stamped him as a poet of wonderful 
genius, whose services were consecrated to Christianity. 

Among other great literary men who lived later were 
Addison, De Foe and Pope, while during the reign of 




240 Young Peopled History of England. 

Anne the first daily paper appeared in England. It was 
the Daily Courant, a little dingy sheet only a few inches 




Blind Milton dictating " Paradise Lost " to his daughters. 

square, which would cause a smile if placed alongside any 
one of our leading journals of to-day. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

HOUSE OF HANOVER. (1714- 

GEORGE I., GEORGE II. — (1714-1760). 

GEORGE I. was an honest old blockhead, fifty-four 
years old, who could not speak a word of English 
and cared for nothing except to smoke his pipe, 
sip his mug of beer and play cards. The best quality 
about the good-natured dolt was that he knew he was 
no more fitted to reign over England than a common 
ploughman, and did not make any attempt to play the 
monarch. He let his Whig friends, with Robert Walpole 
at the head, manage affairs in their own way; and this 
was the true course to take, for the government was in 
safe hands. The people knew that the wooden figure 
represented Protestantism, and the whole country gave 
him their allegiance. 

The present method of government dates from the 
reign of George L, who appointed a chief adviser, or 
prime minister, who chose his own cabinet from the po- 
litical party to which he belonged. When the reign was 
well advanced, Sir Robert Walpole set on foot this sys- 
tem, which now generally consists of twelve or fifteen 
persons, named by the prime minister or premier, from the 
leading members of both Houses of Parliament, but whose 

(241) 



242 Young People's History of England. 



political views agree in the main with the majority of the 
House of Commons. Now, when the members or prin- 
ciples of the cabinet are 
in disfavor, it is shown 
by a vote expressing a 
want of confidence in 
them, whereupon the 
cabinet immediately re- 
signs, the queen names a 
new premier, who selects 
a new cabinet, and the 
policy of the government 
is changed so as to har- 
monize with the views 
expressed by the vote of 
lack of confidence. 

You remember that 
James II. left a son of his 
second wife, born in 1688. 
His name was James 
Francis Edward Stuart, 
and he was known also 
as the Chevalier de St. 
George, or the Old Pre- 
tender. In 1715 a rebel- 
lion of the Jacobites, as 
they were called, in his 
favor, headed by the Earl 
of Mar, broke out in Scotland, and he was proclaimed in 
September. The Pretender himself arrived at Peterhead 




King George I. 



House of Hanover. 



243 



in December, formed a council, and made progress 
through the country ; but his case was hopeless, and he 
was glad to escape by flight. 

He soon afterward dismissed Lord Bolingbroke, who 
had been his secretary, and appointed the Duke of Ormond 
to that post. Being ordered to quit France, he went to 
Italy and afterward to Spain, where he was received as 
King of England and an expedition was set on foot in 
his favor, but it ended in failure. In 1719 he married 
a daughter of the ,, M M M _ 
King of Poland, by |l 
whom he had two 
sons, one of w h o m 
was Charles Edward, 
the Young Pretender, 
whose course will 
receive notice later 
on. 

One result of the 
outbreak in 1715 was 
the passage of an act 
extending the duration of Parliament from three years, 
the longest term the body could sit, to seven years, which 
law is still in force. 

Among the most wonderful achievements of science 
of late years has been the discoveries of the cause of 
certain malignant diseases, and, as a consequence, the 
bringing to light of their cure. This will probably go on 
until before long every disease except old age, if that be 
a disease, will have a known remedy. For a great many 




A coach of the early part of the eighteenth 
century. 



244 Young People's History of England. 

years Europe had been ravaged by smallpox, which deso- 
lated the land like a plague, and swept off hundreds of 
thousands of wretched victims. It is said that the season 
was considered normally healthful when no more than 
one person in ten died of this disease. Soon after George I. 
became king, Lady Mary Montagu wrote from Turkey 
that the physicians there made the disease much milder 
and less fatal by inoculating their children. Lady Mon- 
tagu proved her faith in the remedy by having her own 
son inoculated. 

When, however, she urged its adoption in England 
upon her return, she was violently opposed, and few would 
believe her arguments ; but she persisted, and finally sev- 
eral criminals under sentence of death at Newgate were 
promised pardon if they would submit to the operation. 
The proposal was the luckiest thing that ever fell to the 
lot of the rogues, for it proved perfectly successful. So 
striking, indeed, was the result that the king allowed it 
to be tried upon the daughter of the Princess of Wales. 
Again the success was marked ; but, strange to say, most 
of the clergy opposed the remedy as an invention of 
Satan, while the medical profession (and that, perhaps, was 
not so strange) condemned it, but the new practice steadily 
gained ground. Dr. Jenner, through a series of experi- 
ments of a different kind, led to the discovery, toward the 
close of the century, of vaccination, by which millions of 
lives have been saved. 

Sir Robert Walpole continued premier until about 
the middle of the next reign. He believed in keeping 
the country out of war, he reduced the mountainous 



H 



ouse 



of H 



nover. 



245 



public debt, and was determined at all cost to keep the 
Whig party in power and the Protestant Hanoverian 
sovereigns on the throne. To do this he spent thousands 
of pounds in bribing members of Parliament and carried 
elections through the gifts of title, honors and money, for 
his principle was that "every man had his price," and his 
experience almost seemed to confirm the lamentable say- 
ing. He sneered at one "boy patriot" named William 
Pitt, whom it was impossible to move by bribes, threats 
or ridicule. 

While on a visit to 
his native country in 
1727, George I. died of 
apoplexy, and his son, 
George II., came to the 
throne at the age of 
forty-four years. The 
new monarch was much 
like his father, but he 
knew how to speak and 
write English. His wife, Queen Caroline, was an able 
woman, who ruled her husband, while AValpole ruled 
her; so, on the whole, they got on quite happily, and 
blessed peace continued to reign for a long time, despite 
the fact that the king was a good soldier and longed to 
have war with some nation. 

Now, you must not forget that for a hundred years 
England had been making history on this side of the 
Atlantic. While George II. was on the throne the last 
of the thirteen English colonies, Georgia, was founded in 

17— Ellis' England. 




Mowing grass in the eighteenth century. 



246 Young People's History of England. 

1732 by that grand and noble man, General Edward 
Oglethorpe. The Americans were increasing rapidly in 
population and wealth, and, being treated generously by 
the mother country, were among the most loyal and de- 
voted of all her colonies. 

Did you ever hear of a war caused by a man's ear f 
Yet there was such a war during the reign of George II. , 
and here is the curious story : 

A certain English Captain Jenkins, while cruising in 
the West Indies (I fear he was really engaged in smug- 
gling), was seized by the Spaniards, hanged to the yard- 
arm until nearly dead, and then they lopped off one of 
his ears and told him to present it to the King of England 
with their compliments. Captain Jenkins carefully 
wrapped up the member in his handkerchief, took it to 
London, strode down to the House of Commons, where 
he exhibited it to the members, and indignantly asked 
what they were going to do about it, 

The sight of the unpleasant trophy angered and 
pleased the lawmakers. They were mad that anyone 
had dared to abuse an Englishman in that fashion, and 
glad for an excuse to compel Spain to take off the bur- 
densome restrictions upon English trade with the West 
Indies. Walpole could not stem the tide, and war was 
declared with Spain in 1741. The English suffered 
severe losses in an expedition against Carthagena, South 
America, but several cities and considerable treasure 
were captured. 

Now here is a fine illustration of some of the devious 
and ridiculous ways by which nations are involved in 



House of Hanover. 



247 



wars and thousands of lives thrown away, with untold 
misery inflicted upon innocent persons. Charles VI., 
Emperor of Germany, died in 1740. Louis XV., King 
of France, set aside the hereditary claims of Maria 
Theresa, daughter of the emperor, placed the Elector of 
Bavaria on the imperial throne, and raised a large army 
to hold him there. Maria Theresa fled to the Hungarians, 
who acknowledged her as 
queen, and England took an 
active part in supporting her, 
and Holland joined her. 
Spain, Prussia and other Euro- 
pean powers united with 
France to upset this scheme, 
and thus the War of the 
Austrian Succession was in 
full swinsr. 

was as happy 
for here was 

which he had 

ever since he 

War was de- 
an d he went 

over to the continent to lead the English armies in per- 
son. He did it bravely, too, and was the last English 
king to take such a part in the wars of his country. The 
fighting lasted for nearly eight years, and was finally set- 
tled by the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle in 1748. 

This war involved the French and English colonies 
in America. Its object was of no earthly account to 



George II. 
as a schoolboy, 
the chance for 
been yearning 
became king, 
clared in 1741. 




A sitting 



in the House of Commons 
in 1741-42. 



248 Young People's History of England. 

them, but at the command of the royal puppets on the 
other side of the ocean they went to hacking and shoot- 
ing at each other, just as if it were their Christian duty 
to do so. By a series of brilliant operations the Ameri- 
cans captured Louisburg in 1745. It was one of the 
strongest fortresses in the world, and the achievement was 
as remarkable as creditable. Three years later, when the 
treaty of peace was signed, Louisburg was given back to 
France. The colonies were disgusted and indignant, for 
all their bravery and skill went for naught ; but then 
they had had several hundred good men killed, they had 
incurred a heavy debt, and many a household was dark- 
ened by sorrow and mourning, so they could content 
themselves with the thought that the inevitable rewards 
of war were not withheld in their case. 

While the War of the Austrian Succession was under 
way the French encouraged Charles Edward, the Young 
Pretender, grandson of James II., to attempt to recover the 
English throne. The full name of this young man was 
Charles Edward Louis Philip Cassimir Stuart, and of 
course he was the son of the " Old Pretender," as he was 
called. With less than a score of friends he landed in 
July, 1745, in one of the western islands of Scotland, 
where he was enthusiastically received. He speedily 
drew twenty-five hundred men to his support and took 
possession of Edinburgh, where he proclaimed his father 
as James VIII. 

The royal army was encountered at Preston Pans and 
scattered like chaff before the furious onset of the High- 
landers, who were inspired by the hope of seeing the in- 



House of Hanover. 



249 



dependence of Scotland restored, with a lineal descendant 
of the royal line upon the throne. But "Bonnie Prince 
Charlie "had a loft- 
ier ambition, and, 
after keeping for a 
while a gay court in 
Edinburgh, at the 
head of about six 
thousand men he 
crossed the border 
and left no doubt in 
the minds of his fol- 
lowers that he as- 
pired to the rule of 
the united kingdom. 
This was a damp- 
er upon the enthu- 
siasm of his wild 
Highlanders, who 
regarded war merely 
as a raid to be fol- 
lowed by an imme- 
diate return to their 
fastnesses with the 
plunder they had 
acquired ; and so, 
when the army 
had advanced 
within a h u n- 



'....-. '"^-ipIL .''-5 








'"■■ fiSprr^ i'^^^iPi^^KSr^l 


m$&' 


ttttjV -4: 




■;*W§Ssri 





King George II. 



dred and thirty miles of London, his officers absolutely 



250 Young People's History of England. 

refused to support him, and he was obliged to retreat to 
Scotland. 

The following year he was attacked in the Highlands 
by a large force of English and Lowland cavalry, com- 
manded by the Duke of Cumberland, second son of King 
George. The battle of Culloden Moor, a few miles from 
Inverness, was fought in 1746, and ended forever all 
attempts to place the Stuarts upon the throne of Eng- 
land. 

The Duke of Cumberland was guilty of brutalities 
which have forever stained his name. A reward of 
thirty thousand pounds was placed on the head of the 
Young Pretender, but never was more devoted love and 
loyalty displayed than among the hovels of the Highlands 
and the Western Isles, where every one would have 
suffered death before betraying the hiding-place of the 
fugitive. After passing through a series of romantic 
adventures, he succeeded in escaping in a fishing-boat to 
France and never fretted England again. 

A more awful plague than that of smallpox blighted 
Great Britain during the reign of George II. : that was 
the evil of intemperance. Strong drink took the place 
of beer, and the few who saw the effects of the appalling 
curse were powerless to restrict it. It is said that in 
the London taverns, which were never closed, day, night 
or on Sunday, and where the floors were strewn with men, 
women, and even children, beastly drunk, signs were 
displayed reading: "Drunk for a penny; dead drunk 
for twopence; clean straw for nothing. " As proof 
that the hideous practice pervaded all classes, let me 




Proclamation of the Young Pretender at Edinburgh. 



(251 



252 



Young People's History of England. 



tell you something which I am quite sure you have 
never heard. In our army regulations providing for 
courts martial, most of them were taken from the old 
English law, one of which forbids all courts martial to 
sit except between eight and three o'clock on any day. 
This was based on the accepted theory that no gentleman 
ever remained sober after three o'clock. When great 
men met at dinner, the champion was he who could drink 

the others " under 
the table," — that is, 
until they were so 
intoxicated that they 
slid helplessly from 
their chairs to the 
floor. It looked as 
if all the men, women 
and children were 
given wholly over to 
this horrible vice. 

When morality 

was in this fearful 

state, a great reli- 

began, under the leadership of John Wes- 

He and his brother Charles 




Election scene : the poll. 



gious revival 

ley, a student at Oxford. 

and a few devout young men spent a part of each day in 

devotional exercises. The regularity of these meetings 

and of their habits gained for them the nickname of 

" Methodists," a term which was soon to become one of 

the highest respect and honor. 

The flame of revival kindled by the Wesleys grew 



House of Hanover. 



253 



into a conflagration that roused the dormant religious 
sentiment of 
the country. 
Like the early 
Puritans, the 
fi r s t purpose 
of these men 
was to remain 
in the English 
Church, in the 
hope that it 
would be 
quickened into 
new life ; but 
as their blessed 
work p r o- 
g r e s s e d, it 
seemed to be 
wise to organ- 
ize a new sect. 
T h u s the 
M e t h o d i sts 
were founded, 
who to-day 
number nearly 
6,000,000 com- 
municants in 
the United 

States alone. The Wesleys accompanied Oglethorpe to 
America, Charles acting as his secretary, while John was 




John Wesley. 



254 Young People's History of England. 

a missionary to the Indians. They returned to England 
in 1737, and carried forward the great revival with an 
earnestness, devotion and success which can never be 
fully measured until the Last Day, when all accounts 
will be made up. 



G 



CHAPTER XVII. 

HOUSE OF HANOVER. (1714- 

GEORGE III.— (1760-1820). 

EORGE II. died in 1760. His son, Frederick, 
Prince of Wales, having died before his father, 
his son (grandson of George II.) succeeded to 
the throne. George III. was of fine character, and was 
proud that he was a native of England, whose interests 
he held close to his heart. He was conscientious, but his 
almost fatal defect was his narrow-mindedness and his 
stubbornness. The latter quality could not have been 
carried to a greater extreme, and to it was due the loss of 
his American colonies, which in one sense was the great- 
est disaster that ever befell the British Empire. 

Before giving the history of the American Revolu- 
tion we must refer to a hardly less important series of 
events which began under George II., but did not reach 
their fulfillment until his successor had come to the 
throne. 



House of Hanover. 255 

From what you have already learned, you do not 
need to be reminded that England and France Jiad been 
rivals for centuries. They were at war many times, and 
although both nations have made great advancements in 
civilization, the rivalry exists to-day, with the possibility 
of war always in the air. 

The scene of this rivalry was transferred to the New 
World. The English settlements fringed the Atlantic 
coast from Maine to Florida, while the French held 
Canada, and began a vigorous effort to plant their posts 
through the Mississippi Valley to the Gulf of Mexico. 
Their dream was to build a mighty empire in the Missis- 
sippi Valley. 

Between this section and the Atlantic was a vast fer- 
tile wilderness, which was claimed and coveted by both 
nations. The English settlers began pushing westward 
beyond the Ohio, while the French also invaded the re- 
gion, and by and by, as was inevitable, the opposing 
parties came in collision. 

The French built a strong fort on the present site of 
Erie, Penna., in 1753, and prepared to erect a chain of 
forts southward toward the Ohio River. Governor Din- 
widdie, of Virginia, claimed that section as a part of his 
province, and sent a messenger with a letter of protest to 
the French commander against his action. The messen- 
ger who carried this letter a thousand miles through the 
wilderness, from Williamsburg, the capital of Virginia, 
and back again, was George Washington. I suspect 
you have heard that name before. 

As might have been expected, the French officer re- 



256 



Yonng People's History of England, 



fused to leave, and the French and Indian War broke out. 
For the first time the English colonies acted together. 
England and France began sending troops to America, 

although both pro- 
fessed to be at peace. 
In 1755, General 
Braddock, while 
marching through 
western Pennsylva- 
nia with a strong 
force of British 
regulars, was drawn 
into ambush by the 
French and Indi- 
ans, and most of his 
command killed or 
wounded. But for 
Washington and his 
Virginia soldiers, 
few of the British 
would have escaped. 
When there had 
been some more 
fighting, England 
and France, in the 
spring of 1756, 
made a declaration 
of war. For a time the British government sent worth- 
less officers 
gain* 




Braddock's force ambushed. 



officers across the ocean, and no real advantage was 
led during 1756 and 1757. Montcalm, the French 



House of Hanover. 



257 



commander, was the ablest military leader France ever 
had in America, and he steadily pressed his advantage. 

But a great 
change came 
in 1758. I 
told you 
about Wil- 
liam Pitt, the 
member of 
the British 
Parliament 
whom Wal- 
pole found 
could not be 
bought by 
title, office, 
or, indeed, 
all the wealth 
of the British 
empire. His 
great ability 
had become 
so manifest 
that he was 
called to the 
head of the 

gOV ernment, William Pitt, " The Great Commoner." 

and immedi- 
ately there came a great change. He weeded out the in- 
competent officers and set on foot a series of campaigns 




258 Young People's History of England. 

that were overwhelmingly successful. In September, 1759, 
Wolfe, the most brilliant of all the English officers, after 
besieging Quebec for a number of weeks, led his men up 
the steep bank to the plain in front of the city. This was 
done at night, and Montcalm, the French commander, had 
no suspicion of what was going on until the next morning, 
when he saw the rows of English muskets gleaming in 
the sunlight, as the army stood in battle array. The 
valiant Frenchman marched out without hesitation to the 
attack. 

In the battle that followed both Wolfe and Montcalm 
were killed, but the French army was decisively defeated, 
and five days later the city surrendered. The conquest 
of Canada followed in 1760. Spain entered the war in 
1762 to assist France. In the same year an English ex- 
pedition, including many American troops, sailed to the 
Spanish island of Cuba and captured the rich city of 
Havana. A treaty of peace was signed at Paris in 1763, 
Great Britain having completely conquered both France 
and Spain. Spain gave Florida to England to get Havana 
back, while France surrendered all of her territory in 
North America east of the Mississippi to England, and 
all west of the Mississippi, including New Orleans, to 
Spain. Thus France vanished from the American conti- 
nent, and when you see how vast were the results that 
flowed from the victory of Quebec, you can understand 
why that conflict is reckoned among the great battles of 
the world. 

George III. only needed to use wisdom and generosity 
to hold his American colonies to him by hooks of steel, but 



House of Hanover. 



259 



those were the very qualities in which he was lacking. The 
expenses of the French and Indian War rendered taxation 
necessary, and the king suggested to Sir George Grenville 
that the colonies ought to be taxed. Such a law, known 
as the Stamp Act, was passed by Parliament in 1765. 

Now, there was nothing 
wrong about the Stamp Act 
except the fact that the British 
Government would not allow 
the Americans to have any of 
their number as members of 
Parliament, the body which 
laid the tax. They insisted 
upon their right to a voice 
and vote in the management 
of their affairs, and, because 
England refused, it was taxa- 
tion without representation, 
to which the Americans re- 
solved they would not sub- 
mit. They made so deter- 
mined a resistance that the tax 
was taken off of all articles 
except tea. England kept it 
upon that to prove that she would not yield the principle 
of taxation, and the Americans rejected the tax to prove 
that they were also contending for a principle, and neither 
would they yield. When England sent cargoes of tea 
across the ocean, some of them were not permitted to land, 
and in Boston a party of young men, disguised and painted 




King George III. 



260 Young People's History of England. 

as Indians, threw the whole cargo into the harbor. The 
affair, which took place in 1773, is referred to as the 
Boston Tea Party. 

The arbitrary course of Great Britain was strongly 
opposed by William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, the "Great 
Commoner," but the stubborn king and his Parliament 
persisted in their wrong course until the American colo- 
nies rose in rebellion. The first armed conflict took 
place at Lexington, Massachusetts, in April, 1775, when 
the British regulars were defeated w T ith severe loss, and 
"the shot was fired that was heard around the world." 
The battle of Bunker Hill shortly followed, and was a 
victory for the English. 

You will find the whole story of the American Revo- 
lution in our History of the United States, and I can re- 
call in this place only the principal incidents. The step 
leading to the final separation was taken on July 4, 1776, 
when the Congress in Philadelphia declared the colonies 
independent of Great Britain, which now put forth the 
most vigorous efforts to bring them to submission. At 
first the advantage was with the British, who hired sev- 
eral thousand Hessians to assist in the work of conquest. 
The Americans won a great victory in the autumn of 
1777, when they compelled the surrender of Burgoyne 
and his large army at Saratoga, New York. 

This victory gave France the excuse for which she 
was waiting to form an alliance with the United States, 
and thenceforward England had to fight the two nations, 
while Holland and Spain joined her enemies before the 
close of hostilities. Finally, on October 19, 1781, the 




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262 Young People's History of England. 

American and French allies forced the surrender of Lord 
Cornwallis, at Yorktown, Virginia. The capture of this, 
the most important British army in the country, secured 
the independence of the United States. The illustrious 
leader of our armies throughout that period which tried 
men's souls was the immortal George Washington, one 
of the greatest and best men that ever lived. 

A strong party in the British Parliament censured 
the conduct of the ministry toward the Americans from 
the beginning. In June, 1781, a motion was made in 
the House of Commons calling upon the ministers to 
make peace with the colonies. The great AVilliam Pitt 
was dead, but his son, fully as brilliant and patriotic as 
he, strongly supported the motion. Within a year the 
war became so unpopular that Lord North, the prime 
minister, resigned, and a new Whig ministry succeeding, 
peace was concluded in 1783, by which the independence 
of the United States was recognized. 

The first minister sent from America to England 
was John Adams, afterward the second President of the 
United States. King George said to him: "I was the 
last man in the kingdom, sir, to consent to the inde- 
pendence of America; but, now that it is granted, I 
shall be the last man in the world to sanction a viola- 
tion of it." 

Samuel Johnson, whose writings exactly expressed the 
current ideas of his age, was born at Litchfield Sept. 18, 
1709. He went to Oxford, where his debts and religious 
doubts made him miserably melancholy. He failed as a 
teacher and went to London, where he did excellent lite- 



House of Hanover. 263 

rary work, but for a long time received hardly enough 
pay to support life. He had a terrible struggle, but bore 
adversity with a splendid courage, becoming the foremost 
writer of his time. Through the force and nobility of his 
character he obtained an influence even greater than that 
obtained by his writings. After eight years of labor he 
produced his Dictionary in 1755. It was a noble piece 
of work, and he was the founder of English lexicography. 
In 1762 he was rewarded with a pension of $1500, and 
the year following he made the acquaintance of James 
Boswell, whose Life of Dr. Johnson is more widely read 
than any of his patron's writings. Dr. Johnson had caustic 
wit, keen observation of character, good sense, a solid 
judgment and a serious, thoughtful nature. He died 
Dec. 13, 1784, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. 

Horace Walpole was born Sept. 24, 1717, and was 
educated at Eton and Cambridge. Returning from a 
traveling tour, he entered parliament in 1741, but having 
no taste for politics, he was never active in public life. 
He soon began the publication of a series of works, but the 
one on which his chief fame rests is his Letters, which 
give interesting, though not always truthful, pictures and 
records of the society and fashionable groups of the day. 
He became fourth earl of Oxford in 1791, and died March 
2, 1797. 

During the progress of the American Revolution all 
was not quiet at home. The most unjust and stringent 
laws against the Catholics were repealed, whereupon Lord 
George Gordon, a wild fanatic, in 1780 led in a furious 
attack upon the government. For nearly a week London 



264 Young People's History of England. 

was at the mercy of a fierce mob, which committed no 
end of outrages. The rioters burned Catholic chapels, 
pillaged dwellings, broke into Newgate prison, released 
the prisoners and burned the structure. The only way a 
person could save himself from attack was to wear a blue 
cockade to show he was a Protestant, while to protect his 

house from pillage it was 
necessary to chalk "No 
Popery" on the door. One 
man, to make doubly sure, 
scrawled in big letters, "No 
religion at all." Many 
lives were lost and a vast 
amount of property de- 
stroyed. 

The French Revolu- 
tion, the bloodiest in all 
history, broke out in 1789. 
The sympathy for the down- 
trodden people of France 
was general until their out- 
rages horrified the world. 
The execution of Louis 
XVI. and Queen Marie Antoinette frightened England, for 
she saw danger to herself in the establishment of a demo- 
cratic republic at her doors. She therefore joined an alli- 
ance of the leading European powers to restore the French 
monarchy. Napoleon Bonaparte, the greatest military 
genius that ever lived, soon became the head of the French 
nation, and set out to make himself master of Europe. He 





Nelson at the battle of Cape St. Vincent. ( 265 ) 



266 Young People's History of England. 

organized an expedition against Egypt and the East, which 
he meant to be the stepping-stone to the conquest of the 
British Empire of India, but this grand scheme was 
brought to naught by Lord Nelson's victory over the 
French fleet at the battle of the Nile, fought in 1798. 
Nelson had been made a rear-admiral and decorated with 
the Order of the Bath for his gallantry in the battle off 
Cape St. Vincent, in February, 1797, when the Spanish 
fleet was almost annihilated by Admiral Jervis. In that 
action Nelson, commanding the Captain, ran his ship 
between two of the enemy's largest vessels, and, after 
raking them fore and aft, captured both by boarding. 

Napoleon, with the help of Spain, made preparations 
in 1804 for invading England, but the combined French 
and Spanish fleets were driven into the harbor of Cadiz 
by Nelson, and held there until the following year. In 
the autumn of 1805 this mighty array left Cadiz, while 
Lord Nelson waited for it off Trafalgar, near at hand. 
When the battle was about to open, Nelson displayed 
from his masthead the signal " England expects every 
man to do his duty," and the sailors answered with ring- 
ing cheers. At the conclusion of the terrific engage- 
ment the French and Spanish fleets were no more, and 
all danger of the invasion of England by Napoleon had 
vanished ; but Great Britain paid dearly for the victory, 
for the gallant Nelson was mortally wounded. 

The Peninsular War began in 1808, and was caused 
by the attempt of Napoleon to place his weak brother 
Joseph on the throne of Spain, against the wishes of the 
people. Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterward the Duke of 



268 Young People's History of England. 

Wellington, was sent into Spain to prevent this outrage. 
He gained a decisive victory at Vimeira (ve-ma'e-rah) , in 
1808, but Sir John Moore received none of the help 
promised from the Spaniards, and was compelled to re- 
treat. Although he repulsed the French at Co-run'na, 
Moore was killed, and the English troops, with the help 
of the fleet, were glad to leave the country. 

The second war between Great Britain and the United 
States began in 1812 and lasted until 1815. It was 
wholly the fault of England, which, in her need of all the 
sailors she could get, unlawfully stopped American ves- 
sels on the high seas, searched them, and took off such 
seamen as she claimed belonged to her. England insisted 
that a man who was born an Englishman always remained 
an Englishman, and could not throw off his allegiance. 
In the face of the indignant protests of the United States 
she persisted in enforcing her so-called " right of search," 
and when resistance was made fired into our vessels, some- 
times inflicting loss of life. In this outrageous manner 
Great Britain seized more than six thousand sailors on 
American ships, and compelled them to enter her service. 
Finding no other course effective, the United States de- 
clared war in June, 1812. 

On the land, the British had the advantage. An 
American invasion of Canada was repulsed, and in 1814 
Washington, the national capital, was captured and partly 
burned, but the infant American navy electrified the 
world and spread dismay in Great Britain by its brilliant 
victories. England, as you know, boasts that she is mis- 
tress of the seas, and her successes with other nations 






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270 Young People's History of England. 

give some justice to the claim, but she now met more 
than her match. In sixteen naval battles, in which the 
forces were about the same, the Americans won thirteen. 
The crowning victory was that at New Orleans, in Janu- 
ary, 1815 (fought after peace was declared, but before the 
news reached this country), in which General Andrew 
Jackson, with an inferior force, defeated the large 
British army under Sir Edward Pakenham, brother-in- 
law of the Duke of Wellington, who was killed himself 
and suffered a loss in killed and wounded of more than 
two thousand. Although England did not formally yield 
the right of search in the treaty of peace, it was under- 
stood it was dropped, and she never again attempted to 
enforce it. 

Meanwhile the Peninsular War went on and a num- 
ber of victories were gained by the British, but the resist- 
less successes of Bonaparte alarmed all Europe. He was 
overturning thrones and playing with other monarchs as 
if they were so many marbles. It looked as if he would 
become master of the world itself unless checked in his 
all-conquering career. England joined in the alliance 
against him, for her own safety demanded such action. 
Napoleon marched across the Belgian frontier in order to 
strike the English army under the Duke of Wellington 
before it could form a junction with the Prussian allies. 
He succeeded, and Waterloo, one of the decisive battles of 
the world, opened on Sunday, June 18, 1815. The ad- 
vantage at first was with the French under their wonderful 
leader, but the Prussian allies arrived in time to turn the 
tide, the French were beaten, and Bonaparte, taken pris- 



House of Hanover. 271 

oner, was sent to the rock of St. Helena, and kept there 

until his death. . 

On the 29th of January, 1820, George III. died in 
the eighty-second year of his age and the sixtieth of his 
reign. Until Victoria, this was the longest reign of any 
English monarch, though for nearly ten years attacks oi 
insanity had rendered the king incapable of conducting 
his government, which, since February, 1811, had been 
conducted hy a regency, as it is called, with the Prince 
of Wales at the head. 

The last days of the king were pitiful. Not only 
was he insane at times, but became blind ana dear. His 
reason fled soon after the celebration of the jubilee of the 
fiftieth year of his reign in 1809. Once, when his reason 
came back for a short time, the queen found him singing 
a hymn and accompanying himself on a harpsichord. 
Then he knelt and prayed aloud for her his family, and 
for the nation, and then his brain clouded again and all 
became darkness. He was a good man, and many tears 
were shed when, "after life's fitful fever," be sank into 
the sweet, dreamless sleep for which he had sighed and 
waited so long. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

HOUSE OF HANOVER (CONTINUED) 1714- 

GEORGE IV., WILLIAM IV. (1820-1837). 

GEORGE IV. was a bad man. Although polished 
in manner, he was without moral principle, and 
was selfish and dissolute. While Prince of 
Wales he received for many years an income of half a 
million dollars, but was always in debt. In 1795 Parlia- 
ment appropriated more than $3,000,000 to relieve him 
of his most pressing debts, but his wild extravagance 
soon plunged him deeper than before, and had not the 
patient taxpayers come to his relief, he would have been 
bankrupted. He was fifty-eight years old at his coro- 
nation, which cost the nation a million dollars. The 
scamp forgot to return the jewels which he hired for the 
occasion, and Parliament had to pay for them. As a 
king his extravagance knew no limits, but the patient 
English people bore it, although all his efforts were di- 
rected against the reforms which the times demanded. I 
wonder whether a good many persons did not say to them- 
selves: " What folly to have such a profligate and shame- 
less nuisance for king, simply because he is of royal birth ! 
What a farce is our method of government, which makes 
such calamities not only possible but probable, for we 

( 272 ) 



House of Hanover. 273 

have had them many times in the past and are sure to 
have them again in the future!" 

For a number of years the Greeks had been making 
a gallant effort to throw off the intolerable Turkish yoke, 
but their numbers were too few to make headway against 
their oppressors. The sympathy for them became so 
deep that England, France and Russia interfered. In 
the naval battle of Navarino, fought in 1827, the Turk- 
ish and Egyptian fleets were destroyed, an event which 
secured the independence of Greece and caused its erec- 
tion into a separate kingdom. 

Ireland had long groaned under the heel of English 
despotism. Her inhabitants starved to death by the 
thousand, and the misrule in the island was a rejDroach to 
any nation claiming to be Christian. Through the most 
flagrant bribery, enough votes were bought in the so- 
called Irish Parliament to secure a majority in favor of a 
union with Great Britain, and in 1800 the two countries 
were joined in name (and nothing else), under the title 
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 
Despite the fact that the large majority of the Irish are 
Catholics, England refused to allow any member of that 
faith to sit in the House of Commons. 

This burning injustice continued until the latter part 
of the reign of George IV. The first repeal was that of 
the Corporation Act, passed in the reign of Charles II., 
which required that all town or corporate offices shall be 
filled only by members of the Church of England. The 
Test Act, passed also under Charles II., which kept both 
Dissenters and Catholics out of government offices, 



274 Young People's History of England. 

whether civil or military, was repealed in 1828, and the 
following year a still greater victory for justice was 
gained, against the opposition of the king, his party and 
the prime minister. This was the repeal of the law which 
for a century and a half had shut out all Catholics from 
sitting in Parliament. The most powerful advocate in 
bringing about this reform was Daniel O'Connell, the 
great Irish orator and patriot. 

George IV. died in the summer of 1830, and it may 
be doubted whether his death was regretted by a single 
man, woman or child in the kingdom. The expression 
sounds hard, but it was truly said of him that " nothing 
in his life became him like the leaving of it." Having 
left no heir, he was succeeded by his brother William, a 
man of sixty-five, who had passed most of his life from 
boyhood on shipboard. He was a bluff, hearty man, rough 
of manner, who cared nothing for pomp, ceremony and 
etiquette; but he was frank, honest, and a friend of the 
people, who were fond of referring to him as " the Sailor 
King." 

The development of the country had brought about 
the oddest and most lop-sided representation in Parlia- 
ment that you can imagine. Thus the large cities, such 
as Birmingham, Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester and others 
could not send a member to Parliament, while many 
places in the south of England, that were of no im- 
portance whatever, regularly sent members to the law- 
making body. There were other inequalities so glaring 
and unjust that Parliamentary Reform became the urgent 
question of the hour. No persons in the world are so 



House of Hanover. 



275 



conservative and hard to move as our English cousins. 
They will calmly submit to grinding injustice or in- 
convenience year after 
year rather than end 
it all by a little vig- 
orous action on their 
part. 

Now, can you imagine 
a community of Ameri- 
cans submitting to such 
a ridiculous arrange- 
ment as the following? 
The borough or city of 
Old Sarum, once an 
important place, went 
into a state of decay that 
dragged through cen- 
turies, because of the 
growth of Salisbury, 
near by. In the six- 
teenth century Old 
Sarum was so absolutely 
dead that not a living 
person was left on the 
hilltop where once a 
cathedral and castle had 
stood. All that re- 
mained was the skeleton of a tree standing at 
foot of the hill ; but in 1830 the owner of that 




King George IV. 



the 
tree 
and of the land where it grew sent two members to Par- 



276 Young People's History of England. 



liament, and the same thing had been going on for three 
hundred years ! At the same time the only persons in the 
important eity of Bath with the right to vote were the 

mayor, aldermen 
and common coun- 
cil. Such places 
were called "rotten 
boroughs," owing 
to the self-evident 
fact that the only 
political life exist- 
ing there was as rot- 
ten as it could be. 

Would you be- 
lieve that a reform 
meant to correct this 
grotesque state of 
affairs would be op- 
posed ? The bill was 
defeated again and 
again, one ministry 
was overthrown, 
and after passing 
the House of Com- 
mons the bill was 
regularly killed by 
the House of Lords. 
The people were so furious that riots broke out in Bristol, 
Derby, Nottingham, Birmingham, Manchester, and in 
nearly every part of the kingdom. Finally, the danger 




King William IV. 



House of Hanover. 



277 



of civil war became so serious that the stubborn enemies 
of the bill gave way, and it became law in June, 1832. 
The victory was hailed with rejoicings everywhere. All 
boroughs having less than two thousand inhabitants were 
deprived of a vote; those having more than two thousand 
and less than four thousand were allowed to send one 
member to Parliament, while the rights taken from the 
rotten boroughs were dis- 
tributed fairly among the 
large manufacturing towns 
and other districts. 

A grand step in behalf 
of humanity was taken dur- 
ing the reign of William IV. 
As long ago as 1783 the 
Quakers presented a petition 
to Parliament praying f o r 
the abolition of the African 
slave trade, probably the 
most horrible crime in which 
any nation ever engaged. 
Soon after, William Wilber- 
force, one of the ablest of 
Christian statesmen, threw r his heart and soul into the 
struggle, being assisted by the younger Pitt, Fox, and 
other good men ; but the struggle was a long and bitter 
one, for it is a sad fact that when a man's pocket is 
affected by an appeal for justice, he is often inclined to 
give his pocket the benefit. Too many professing Chris- 
tians live up to the policy that it is best not to let one's 

19— Ellis' England. 




William W T ilberforce. 



278 Young People's History of England. 

religion interfere with business, forgetting that in such a 
case a man has no religion at all to make such interference. 

Victory, though long delayed, was gained in March, 
1807, when the British Parliament passed a bill for the 
abolition of the slave trade. But it took twenty-six more 
years to abolish slavery in the British West Indies. A 
motion to bring this about was introduced in 1823, but it 
did not gain the necessary votes until August, 1833. One 
year later 800,000 slaves were set free in the British West 
Indies, and one hundred million dollars were paid to the 
slaveholders for thus giving up their " property." 

William IV. died on the 20th of June, 1837. Since 
he left no child to inherit the crown, he was succeeded 
by his niece, Alexandrina Victoria, daughter of his 
brother Edward, Duke of Kent. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

HOUSE OF HANOVER (CONTINUED). 1714- 

VICTORIA (1837-1901). 

VICTORIA was eighteen years old when she became 
Queen of Great Britain. From earliest childhood 
she had been a devout Christian, with a lovable dis- 
position, the rarest of good sense, her heart devoted to 
the welfare of her people, one of the truest women, wives 
and mothers that ever lived, who ruled with excellent 



House of Hanover. 



279 



judgment and unfaltering patriotism, and whose reign 

has been the longest and most honored in the history 

of England. 

Revered 

th roughout 

Christendom 

for her many 

virtues, her 

spotless 1 i f e 

and exalted 

character, she 

is the idol of 

her nation. 

If every sov- 

e r e i g n of 

Great Britain 

could be a 

Victoria, that 

countrywould 

have the best 

government 

on earth ; but 

she is the pure 

gold among 

much that of 

necessity must 

remain dross. 

In the present chapter, let us glance at the leading 
events connected with the material growth of the British 
empire, reserving for the next and final chapter a sum- 




Queen Victoria at the time of her accession. 



280 Young People's History of England. 

mary of the incidents that mark what may be called the 
moral advancement of England during the nineteenth 
century. 

Three years after her accession the nation was pleased 
by the marriage of Queen Victoria to Albert, Prince of 
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The union was a love-match, 
and proved an ideally happy one down to the death of 
the Prince Consort in 1861. 

In 1841 an insurrection occurred in Cabul (kah-booV) 
and the English were driven out of Afghanistan, nearly 
all of the retreating army losing their lives. The city 
was retaken the next year and Scinde (sind), a district on 
the lower Indus, was captured by Sir Charles Na'pi-er in 
1843. A severe war broke out with the Sikhs of the Pun- 
jaub, a large district of India, but they were subdued in 
1849. 

Turkey, one of the worst governed countries in the 
world, with a ruler whom Gladstone, the prime minister 
of England, called, because of his ferocious cruelty, " The 
Great Assassin," ought to have been wiped off the face 
of the earth long ago ; but it happens to be so situated that 
the leading Powers feel that it must continue to exist, 
just as its boundaries are to-day, in order to preserve the 
" balance of power." The least movement, therefore, on 
the part of any nation to lop off a square rod of the Sul- 
tan's domain, or to disturb the miscreant in any way, 
starts up the other Christian nations, and jealousy of one 
another compels all to keep their distance. The Russians 
having seized Wallachia and Moldavia, which were 
Danubian principalities, England made haste to form an 



House of Hanover. 281 

alliance with France, in 1853, to protect Turkey from the 
encroachments of the Czar. The harbor of Sebastopol 
was blockaded by the allied fleets, and the city, after a 
siege lasting almost a year, was captured. During the 
siege were fought the famous battles of Alma, Balaklava 
and Inkerman. It was at Balaklava that Lord Cardigan 
with his light cavalry charged over a plain a mile and a 
half in length, directly in the face of the foe. The Rus- 
sians held a strong position, and hardly had the devoted 
band begun its advance when thirty pieces of artillery 
opened upon them. The first line was broken, but the 
second gallantly closed up and dashed on, — 

" Charging an army, while 

All the world wonder'd : 
Plunged in the battery-smoke 
Right through the line they broke ; 
Cossack and Russian 
Reel'd from the sabre-stroke, 

Shatter'd and sunder'd. 
Then they rode back — but not, 

Not the six hundred." 

The city was defended by fortifications of enormous 
extent and strength, and the French distinguished them- 
selves by the gallantry of their assaults. It seems strange 
to think of them and the English fighting side by side, 
when they had fought so many times against each other, 
but never did men show greater bravery than these allies. 
Two of the most powerful works, the MalakofT and Redan, 
were stormed by the French after the English troops had 
failed in the attempt. Peace was signed with Russia in 



282 Young People's History of England. 

1856, and in the same year Oude (owd was annexed to 
British India. 

War is the greatest curse of mankind. When you 
read of the wonderful exploits, heroism and brilliant vic- 
tories, you are thrilled, and sometimes feel as if you would 
like to be a soldier and win glory on the battlefield; but 
if you could see war as it is, with the dead and dying, the 
wounded and suffering, the horrible disease and utter 
wretchedness of the thousands, you would pray for the 
hastening of the time when war shall be no more, and 
nations shall settle their quarrels in the only Christian 
way, which is by arbitration. In the Crimean war, men 
who had passed safely through the fearful righting died 
by the hundreds from uncleanliness, poor rations and 
the most dreadful of diseases. Their condition became 
so awful that all who learned of it shuddered with horror, 
and steps were taken to lessen, so far as possible, the suf- 
ferings of the poor victims. This work was undertaken 
by that good woman, Florence Nightingale, who, with a 
corps of devoted assistants, spent days and nights in 
camp, ministering to the dying soldiers, many of whom 
were crazed by fever and the pangs of disease. Her 
work was a blessed one, indeed, and one of the most 
pathetic proofs of the gratitude of the poor fellows is the 
fact that when she appeared smiling, hopeful and cheering 
among them, those who could not reach out for the sooth- 
ing touch of her hand, as she passed, kissed her shadow 
as it was thrown on the wall, or their cots. 

Hardly was the war in the Crimea over, when Great 
Britain was confronted by the most terrible uprising she 




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284 Young People's History of England. 



has ever been called upon to subdue. India contains a 
population five times as great as that of England. The 

j people are 
' fa n a t ical 

Mussulmans 
and Hindoos, 
and when the 
report was 
s p r e a d 
among them 
that the for- 
eigners 
meant to 
force Chris- 
tianity upon 
them by com- 
pelling them 
to do things 
contrary to 
their reli- 
gion, they 
rose in rebel- 
1 i o n an d 
turned upon 
their mas- 
ters with the 

Florence Nightingale. fierceness of 

so many jun- 
gle tigers. The revolt broke out in 1857, and was not 
subdued until the following year. At first the Sepoys 




N^«B 



House of Hanover. 285 

had everything their own way, for the English military 
forces were unprepared. Luck now, Caw n pore and other 
places were besieged by the mutineers, and some of the 
most horrible massacres of men, women and little children 
took place. The only punishment the fiendish Sepoys 
dreaded was that of being tied to the muzzles of cannon 
and blown to fragments, for when that took place they 
could not receive the burial which their religion demanded. 
Some of the most murderous wretches were punished in 
this manner, and, though a good many condemned the 
method as barbarous, it was justified by the circum- 
stances. England is sometimes slow, but she is resistless 
when her wrath is roused, and by the close of 1858 India 
had been brought into complete subjection, and has given 
the empire no more trouble. 

As you know, our own civil war lasted from 1861 to 
1865. While it was going on, England acted very un- 
fairly toward us. She had abolished slavery in her colo- 
nies, and professed to look upon it with loathing, but all 
her sympathy was on the side of the Southern Confed- 
eracy, whose corner-stone was slavery ; and I cannot help 
thinking that the real motive of our mother country was 
the wish to see the Union broken up, for we had triumphed 
more than once over her, and she was jealous of our grow- 
ing power. She built swift-sailing vessels like the 
Florida, Shenandoah and Alabama, and allowed them to 
sail from her ports and prey upon Northern commerce. 
These Confederate privateers, as they were called, though 
it would have been just as truthful to speak of them as 
British cruisers, destroyed scores of American vessels and 



286 Young People's History of England. 

inflicted losses amounting to millions of dollars. All this 
was done in open violation of law, and was one of the most 
unjust acts that can be charged against Great Britain. The 
queen and the majority of the people themselves were 
friendly to the North throughout our life-and-death strug- 
gle, but it was the rulers who were our enemies. When at 
last the union was restored, we called England to account 
for the damage she had done us through the Alabama 
and other Confederate cruisers. She could not deny the 
wrong, and, after a long consideration of the matter by 
a board of arbitration, she paid to our government the 
sum of $15,500,000 in full settlement of the so-called 
Alabama claims. Since then the United States and 
England have been the best of friends, and it is impos- 
sible to believe that any serious quarrel can ever occur 
between them. 

After the suppression of the Sepoy mutiny, that vast 
corporation known as the East India Company, which 
haci ruled the country for many years, was deprived of 
its power, the government vested in the queen, and was 
administered through a viceroy, as he is termed. In 
1876 the queen, by act of Parliament, was proclaimed 
Empress of India. 

That immense, bulky, half-civilized empire of China, 
the most densely populated in the world, has been in 
trouble for centuries. A quantity of opium having been 
imported into China contrary to law by British mer- 
chants, it was properly seized by the Chinese officials. 
The act gave England her pretext for war (and it was a 
very unjust pretext). In the end China was compelled 



288 Young Peopled History of England. 

to cede Hong-Kong to Great Britain, open five of her 
ports to her commerce, and pay $21,000,000 as indemnity 
for the expense of the war, which took place in 1842. 
In 1856 the war was renewed and the city of Canton 
bombarded and occupied. Some time afterward the com- 
bined forces of French and English captured Peking (re- 
member that "Pekin" is incorrect, the right spelling being 
as I have given it), and the terrified emperor was put to 
flight. The Chinese were forced to submit to the demands 
of Great Britain, one of which was that China should be 
open to the commerce of the world and that a British 
minister should be allowed to reside at Peking. 

In 1877 a British force entered South Africa and 
took possession of the Transvaal RejDublic. The sturdy 
burghers, who had hoped to be let alone in that far-off 
country, resented this injustice and resisted the invaders. 
In the fighting which followed, the Boers displayed won- 
derful marksmanship, bravery and military skill. In 
1880 they disastrously defeated a much larger force, and 
Gladstone, who was at the head of the government, made 
a treaty of peace, which gave to the Boers the rights 
they claimed. 

But England was not satisfied. It had been found 
that the region occupied by the Boers contained the 
richest gold deposits in the world, and Great Britain has 
what has been called "earth hunger" in its most ad- 
vanced stage, and is continually reaching out for more 
territory in all parts of the world. She began crowding 
the Boers again, claiming, perhaps with justice, that they 
were not only unprogressive, but denied rights to English- 



House of Hanover. 



289 



men who had become residents of the Transvaal. These 
men were called "Uitlanders," or foreigners, and their 
franchise rights, or that of voting, were much restricted. 
The friction increased, until Paul Kriiger, or, as he is 
more generally known, 
"Oom Paul/' the Pres- 
ident of the South Afri- 
can Republic, became 
convinced that Eng- 
land intended to de- 
prive his people of 
their independence. In 
the autumn of 1899 he 
sent what is called an 
"ultimatum" to Eng- 
land, demanding that 
she should withdraw 
her armed forces and 
leave the Boers to 
themselves. Great 
Britain replied by 
sending in ore armed 
bodies into the Trans- 
vaal, and the fighting 
began. 

The burghers again 
proved their skill in war, and for several months the 
English troops met with a series of defeats which cast a 
gloom over Great Britain and compelled her to raise 
more soldiers, expend a vast amount of treasure, and 




Ooui Paul " Kriiger. 



290 Young People's History of England, 



take more determined measures to bring the Boers to 
terms. Lord Roberts, her best general, and Lord Kitch- 
ener, who had won brilliant laurels in Khartoum, were 
sent with the reinforcements to South Africa. The 

righting was desperate, 
but the overwhelming 
forces of England be- 
gan to gain ground and 
to drive the Boers be- 
fore them. The Trans- 
vaal Republic was de- 
c 1 ar e d annexed to 
Great Britain and its 
name was changed to 
the Vaal River Colony. 
President Kruger and 
other leaders became 
fugitives, the former 
making his way to 
Lorenzo Marques, in 
Portuguese territory, 
from which city he 
sailed in the autumn 
of 1900 for Europe, the 
Lord Roberts. government of Holland 

having courteously 
placed a warship at his disposal. The entire Vaal River 
Colony was placed under martial law by Lord Roberts in 
September, and the war, after considerable vicious guer- 
rilla fighting, finally died out, the Transvaal Republics, 






Storming a Boer Position in the Transvaal. 



(291 



292 Young People's History of England. 

which had made such a gallant struggle for freedom, 
vanished from the map of the world, and under its new 
name became part and parcel of the mighty British 
empire. 

Many of the troops that had fought in South Africa 
were transferred to China, where, early in the summer of 
1900, one of the most formidable rebellions in its history 
broke out. It was instigated and led by the society 
known as the "Boxers," whose aim was to kill or drive 
out all "foreign devils" in the Yellow empire. England 
united with the United States, France, Germany, Japan 
and other powers in the march upon Peking, where sev- 
eral hundred white men, women and children were be- 
sieged at the British legation and in imminent danger 
of massacre. They were rescued in July, and one of the 
most awful tragedies in all history averted. 

In the year 1811 the first British steamboat, The 
Comet, was launched upon the Clyde. Like the appear- 
ance of Fulton's Clermont on the Hudson, four years 
before, it marked an era in navigation. It has been suc- 
ceeded by hundreds of steamships, many of which cross 
the Atlantic in less than a week, while the navy of Great 
Britain, consisting almost wholly of steam-vessels, equals 
that of the combined navies of any other two nations. 

Great Britain had its first successful locomotive more 
than twenty years before the United States. It ran five 
miles an hour in 1805 at Merthyr Tydvil, in Wales. The 
engine drew ten tons of coal, and though the experiment 
was successful, it was a number of years before railways 
for travelling were constructed and put in operation. You 




Watt discovering the power of steam. 
20- Ellis' England. ( 293 



294 Young People's History of England. 

have heard of George Stephenson and his little locomo- 
tive, The Rocket, the first that was successful. Like all 
great inventions designed to revolutionize old methods, 
it met with great opposition. When explaining its action 
to a committee of Parliament, one of the members thought 
to silence Stephenson with the question : 

"Suppose, when your locomotive is running under 
full headway on the iron rails, a cow should get on the 
track ; what then ?" 

"It will be bad for the COO," replied the inventor, 
with a smile. 

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened 
on the loth of September, 1830, and to-day the miles of 
railway in Great Britain and Ireland, if joined, would 
reach almost around the world. 

James Watt, a Scotchman, born in 1736, began his 
experiments on the steam-engine about 1763, and four 
years later completed his model of a condensing steam- 
engine. During the following sixteen years he made 
many valuable improvements, and at the present time the 
steam-engine, as improved by others, has grown into one 
of the most marvellous inventions of modern times. 
Richard Arkwright, originally a barber, devoted many 
years to making improvements in cotton spinning. He 
invented the spinning-frame, became very wealthy, and 
was knighted in 1786. Josiah Wedgewood made so 
many improvements in the manufacture of pottery that 
he is looked upon as the founder of that branch of indus- 
try in England. His first notable success was the pro- 
duction in 1763 of a beautiful cream-colored porcelain, 



House of Hanover. 



295 



which was so much admired by Queen Charlotte that it 
was named in her honor, "Queen's Ware." 

The tele- 
graph was in- 
troduced i n 
England 
soon after its 
invention in 
the United 
States. Now 
a 1 1 Europe, 
and indeed 
the civilized 
worl d, is 
spanned by 
telegraph 
lines. T h e 
fi r s t ocean 
telegraph be- 
tween Eng- 
land and the 
United States 
was laid i n 
1858, but it 
broke down 
after work- 
ing a short 
t i m e. A 

successful line was laid a few years later, and the miles 
of national and private submarine lines at the present 




Richard Arkwright. 



296 Young People's History of England. 

time exceed 170,000 miles. The late discoveries in elec- 
tricity, such as the telephone, phonograph and wireless 
telegraphy, with more amazing ones at hand, lead one to 
believe that the "age of steam " must soon give way to 
"the age of electricity." 



CHAPTER XX. 

HOUSE OF HANOVER, (CONCLUDED). 1714. 

VICTORIA.— (1837—1901 CONCLUDED). 

I HAVE already referred to some of the moral ad- 
vancements made by England, such as the abolish- 
ment of the slave trade and slavery, the temperance 
movement, and others. Since we have now reached the 
close of the nineteenth century we have only to glance 
backward to the conquest of the ancient Britons by the 
Romans, to understand the amazing advance that has 
been made by the English people. From the lowest 
form of savagery to the foremost nation in the Old 
World is a tremendous sweep, indeed. It is impossible 
that it should be surpassed in the history of mankind. 

The history of England has been that of progress, 
and we need not go back to the beginning to note that 
fact, for a vast deal has been accomplished within the 
past century; but in tracing the story from the beginning 
of the Christian era we cannot fail to see that ofttimes 



House of Hanover. 



297 



the progress has been slow, sometimes it stopped, if, in- 
deed, the "dial on the face of time" did not move back- 
ward. The annals of the British empire have been 
stained by cruelty, oppression, and more than once by 
crime. Must not the same be said of every nation ? 

I have said that the English people are more conserv- 
ative than Americans, or, in other words, they are harder 




Houses of Parlian 



to persuade to make changes. They love to cling to 
their old methods, and it takes a long time to convince 
them that many new ones are better than those of their 
fathers and grandfathers. 

In 1815 Parliament passed a corn law which forbade 
the importation of any foreign grain until the price of 
corn rose to a certain figure. This was done in reply to 
the clamor of the agriculturists for protection. It proved 



298 Young People's History of England. 

very oppressive to the manufacturer, the merchant, and all 
other industrial classes of the country, but it was popular 
in Parliament, where the landed interest was strong. 
But bitter opposition showed itself throughout the coun- 
try, and in 1838 an Anti-Corn Law League was formed 
at Manchester, for the purpose of establishing the prin- 
ciples of free trade, especially in grain. Among the 
thousands who enrolled themselves were some of the 
ablest men in the kingdom. Bad harvests for five years 
in succession, widespread suffering, one of the most ap- 
palling famines in Ireland, where the people would have 
died of starvation but for the splendid charity of England 
and the United States, a deluge of pamphlets, numerous 
outbreaks, incessant speaking, — all these went on for 
eight years before Sir Robert Peel was able to carry 
through Parliament, in 1846, a repeal of the corn laws. 

The passage of the Roman Catholic Emancipation 
Bill did not bring quiet to Ireland. There six and a 
half millions of the people were Catholics and about 
three-fourths of a million members of the Church of 
England. Yet that Church was established by law in 
Ireland, and the Catholics were compelled to pay tithes 
for its support. In 1834 forty-one of the parishes did 
not contain a single Protestant, while in twenty there were 
only five each. Yet Ireland supported eighteen Protes- 
tant bishops and four archbishops, and the annual reve- 
nues of the Establishment were more than four million 
dollars. The Catholic priests in many instances lived in 
abject poverty, for all the wretched parishioners could 
raise for their support had been wrenched from their grasp 



House of Hanover. 299 

by the collectors of the Established Church. It required 
years of agitation and discussion before Parliament could 
be brought to the point of doing its duty in this matter, 
but in 1869 the Disestablishment Bill was passed, and 
took effect in 1871. This ended the forcible payment of 
taxes for the support of any church. 

It seems strange that there was not a single Sunday- 
school in the United States until after the Revolution, 
but there was none in England until 1780, when they 
were founded by Robert Raikes. Since then Sunday- 
schools have spread throughout Christendom, and the 
children who attend are numbered by millions. 

The Reform Bill of 1832, of which you have already 
learned, did not go far enough. In many cities the tax- 
payers had no voice in the management of local affairs, 
and the city officers spent large sums of money in feast- 
ing and drinking, just as they are so fond of doing not 
only in England but in our own country. 

In 1835 a law was passed giving taxpayers in such 
cities, excepting London, control of municipal elections. 
In 1809 the right was extended to single women and 
widows who were householders, and a year later they were 
authorized to vote at school-board elections and to become 
members of such boards. 

As you know, the Jews not many hundred years ago 
suffered most dreadful persecutions in England, as they 
do to-day in Russia, France, and some other countries. 
In 1858 all political restrictions were removed from the 
Hebrews. Although they were entitled to vote and hold 
municipal office, they were shut out from Parliament by 



300 



Young People's History of England. 



a law which required them to make oath "on the faith 
In 1867 Mr. Disraeli (afterward Earl 

of Beacons- 
field, Prime 
Minister 
from Febru- 
ary, 1868, to 
the close of 
the year, and 
of Jewish ex- 
traction), in- 
troduced a 
second R e- 
form Bill 
which be- 
came law. 
It g a v e the 
right to vote 
to every 
householder 
in all the 
towns of the 
kingdom who 
paid a tax for 
the support 
of the poor, 
and to all 
lodgers pay- 
This bill, how- 
large class in the country 




Be uj am in Disrael 



ing an annual rent of Mty dollars 
ever, failed to do anything for a 



House of Hanover. 



301 



districts, where many of the people were wretchedly poor 
and ignorant, Under the ministry of Mr. Gladstone, in 
1886, a third Reform Bill was passed, which went into 
operation the same year, and gave the same voting privi- 
leges to residents of counties throughout the United King- 
dom. Before the passage of the first Reform Bill in 1832 
no more than one person in 
fifty could vote ; now the rate 
is one to Hve or six. 

For sixty years the 
struggle for "Home Rule" 
in Ireland was pressed. This 
was a demand for a separate 
parliament for Ireland. The 
bill was defeated in Parlia- 
ment, but through the genius 
and power of Mr. Gladstone 
such a bill was passed by the 
House of Commons in 1893, 
only to be defeated in the 
House of Lords by the deci- 
sive vote of 419 to 41. This 
has probably ended the fight for a long time to come. 
In the year 1900 the House of Commons consisted of 670 
members, of whom 465 were for England, 30 for Wales, 
72 for Scotland and 103 for Ireland. 

A grand step was taken by England in 1870 when a 
system of common schools was established throughout 
the kingdom under the control of a government board. 
Previous to this date most of the children of the poor 




Williat 



Istone. 



302 Young People's' History of England. 

had been instructed in schools supported by the Church 
of England, other religious denominations, charitable as- 
sociations and a few endowments. But half the children 
were not reached, and grew up in lamentable ignorance. 
Thousands of them in the agricultural districts never 
learned to read and write. The "Board Schools," as 
they were called, made elementary instruction compul- 
sory, and the cost was so trifling that the schools were 
brought within the reach of every one. A year later the 
colleges and universities, as well as the professorships con- 
nected with them, were thrown open to all without regard 
to their religious belief. Until this time no person could 
be graduated from the famous universities of Oxford and 
Cambridge without subscribing to the doctrines of the 
Church of England. 

Before closing our history of England I must make 
brief mention of a few names prominent in British 
annals. 

Walter Scott, whose name is one of the most honored 
in literature, was born in Edinburgh Aug. 15, 1771. 
From childhood he was a ravenous reader, and, united 
with his brilliant imagination, had a memory that seemed 
never to forget anything. He wrote at first in a frag- 
mentary way, and by 1803 had won a favorable place in 
the estimation of the public. The publication of his 
poem, The Lay of the Last Minstrel, in 1805, made him at 
one bound the most popular author of his day. The out- 
burst of Byron, some years later, dimmed the fame of 
Scott as a poet, and he abandoned the field. The first 
of his new and splendid achievements was in 1814, when 



House of Hanover. 303 

he published Waverley, without his name. The "Great 
Unknown," as he was called (though nearly everybody 
knew who he was), became the idol of the time. For years 
he stood deservedly on the topmost pinnacle of fame and 
prosperity. He invented the historical novel, in which 
field no one has ever equalled him,. A disastrous specu- 
lation, in which he became involved with a friend, piled 
a mountain of debt on his shoulders, and it was while he 
was heroically working to pay all his creditors to the last 
farthing that his health broke, and he died Sept. 21, 1832, 
leaving one of the proudest names in all English litera- 
ture. 

Henry John Temple Palmerston was born at Broad- 
lands Oct. 20, 1784, was carefully educated, and on the 
death of his father succeeded to his title of viscount. He 
entered parliament in 1807, and from 1811, as the repre- 
sentative of the University of Cambridge, he sat in that 
body for twenty years, being returned afterward from 
other boroughs. His official life began as Secretary of 
War in 1809, and extended to 1828, during which he 
developed executive ability of the highest order. His 
official connection with the Tory party ended in 1828, 
and two years later he entered the Foreign Office, and 
admirably discharged its duties throughout some of the 
most trying years in England's history. He went out 
of office in 1841 with the Whigs, but on their return in 
1846 resumed the seals of the Foreign Office. In Decem- 
ber, 1851, the queen dismissed him from the Russell 
cabinet because he had expressed his approval of the 
coup d'etat of Louis Napoleon, without consulting either 



304 Young People's History of England. 

her or the premier. He accepted the post of Home Sec- 
retary in 1852, and when in his seventy-first year the 
nation unanimously called him to be its prime minister. 
He vigorously prosecuted the Russian war to a conclusion. 
His administration fell in Feb., 1858, but in the following 
June he was again called to the post of First Lord of the 
Treasury, which he filled up to the time of his death, 
Oct. 18, 1865. Lord Palmerston was universally popu- 
lar, for his national character and national spirit were 
deeply appreciated by his countrymen. 

Charles Darwin, F. R. S., the distinguished naturalist, 
was born at Shrewsbury Feb. 12, 1809. He studied 
at Edinburgh University, and afterward at Christ's Col- 
lege, Cambridge, where he took his degree of B. A. in 
1831. He died April 19, 1882, and was buried in West- 
minster Abbey. 

Darwin was naturalist in H. M. S. Beagle, which 
started for a survey of South America and a circum- 
navigation of the globe Dec. 27, 1831, returning to 
England Oct. 2, 1836. Thenceforward, so far as his 
health permitted, Darwin devoted his life to scientific re- 
searches. He was the author of many works, his most 
famous being The Origin of Species by Means of Natural 
Selection, or the Preservation of Favored Races in the 
Struggle of Life, which was published in 1859. In brief, 
he contended that all existing species of plant and animal 
life, through the process of " natural selection," descended 
from one or a very few low forms of life, the varieties of 
the species that are in any way better fitted for the con- 
ditions of their life always surviving and multiplying at 



House of Hanover. 305 

the expense of others. This theory has caused fierce con- 
troversies, but has been accepted by many of the ablest 
naturalists. Prof. Darwin possessed profound learning 
and originality and won many high distinctions. 

On May 24, 1819, Alexandrina Victoria, afterward 
Queen of England and Ireland, and Empress of India, 
was born in Kensington Palace. Her godfathers were 
the Emperor Alexander of Russia and her uncle, the 
Prince Regent, who w T as afterward George IV. On May 
24, 1837, she reached the age of 18, at which in England 
a royal Princess may marry. On June 20, the king, 
William IV., breathed his last at Windsor, and the next 
day she was formally proclaimed Queen of Great Britain 
and Ireland, from St. James Palace. Her coronation 
took place in Westminister Abbey on June 28, 1838. 
On February 10, 1840, she was married to her cousin, 
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The union was 
a happy one in every respect, and was blessed by the 
births of Victoria Adelaide, Albert Edward, Alice Maud 
Mary, Alfred, Helena, Louisa, Arthur, Leopold, and Bea- 
trice Mary Victoria Feodore ; the Queen's children, grand- 
children and great-grandchildren numbering 83, of 
whom 71 were living at the opening of the twentieth 
century. Her husband died on December 14, 1861. 

While endowed with a masculine understanding and a 
wonderful grasp of public affairs, Queen Victoria neglected 
none of the lighter feminine employments and talents. 
As a girl she was a beautiful dancer. She was an accom- 
plished horsewoman, but enjoyed walking, and was never 
happier than when exploring the Scottish hills of her 



306 Young People's History of England, 

Highland home in the company of her husband, as she 
has related in her journal. She sang charmingly, drew 
correctly and with taste, spoke German and French flu- 
ently, and her reading was wide. The royal nursery was 
as plain as that of any of her subjects, and her children 
were constantly taught to help themselves and dispense 
with the attentions of nurses and servants. 

Even in old age Queen Victoria continued the habit of 
knitting in the evenings, and many a wounded soldier has 
treasured the Queen's quilt, worked by her own hands, 
under which he crept slowly back to convalescence. She 
was as kindly in word and deed to the peasant as to the 
potentate, and graciously thoughtful to her dependents. 
Her death occurred on January 22, 1901. 

With the death of Queen Victoria, as has been stated, 
the longest reign in English history, and the longest 
actual reign in European history, came to an end. The 
60-year reign of her grandfather, George III., was in- 
terrupted by insanity, while the 72-years of Louis XIV. 
technically began when he was five years old. She was a 
scrupulous, constitutional monarch, and observed through- 
out her reign the oath she took at her coronation. The 
period, as we have learned, was one of the most glorious 
in the history of England, and under her rule the mighty 
empire made tremendous advancement in moral, political 
and material progress, while her example as a woman, 
wife, mother and sovereign, won for her the admiration 
and reverence of the world, which mourned her death. 
In accordance with the British Constitution, her eldest 
son, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, born November 9,: 




Victoria, Queen 



of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, 



and Empress of India 



307 



308 Young People's History of England. 

1841, was immediately proclaimed King, with the title of 
Edward VII. 

Macaulay was right when he said that the history of 
England is the history of a great and progressive nation. 
In the space at my command I cannot go into further 
particulars, but the truth appears in every department of 
thought and action. The reform is marked in the ad- 
ministration of law in the criminal courts ; in the treat- 
ment and care of the insane and other unfortunates ; in 
the hospital and charitable associations, and in the social 
condition of all classes. Striking, too, is the marked 
friendship which has grown up within the last few years 
between England and the United States. She proved 
herself our best friend in our recent war with Spain, and 
we are not ungrateful. The United States and Great 
Britain are now the two leading nations of the world, 
who must join hands in carrying forward the work of 
civilization and Christianity to all climes and peoples. 
I can best close this little history by quoting the words 
of Archdeacon Farrar, in his address at Westminster 
Abbey on the death of General Grant in 1885: "What- 
ever there be between the two nations to forget and for- 
give, is forgotten and forgiven. If the two peoples, which 
are one, be true to their duty, who can doubt that the 
destinies of the world are in their hands?" 



SOVEREIGNS OF ENGLAND. 





Danes 


and Saxons. 


A. 1). 




A. D. 




802. 


Egbert. 


975. 


Edward II. (the Martyr). 


837. 


Ethelwulf. 


979. 


Ethelred II. (the Unready). 


857. 


Ethelbald II. 


1013. 


Sweyn. 


860. 


Ethelbert. 


1014. 


Canute. 


866. 


Ethelred I. 


1014. 


Ethelred II. (again). 


871. 


Alfred the Great. 


1016. 


Edmund II. (Ironside). 


901. 


Edward I. the Polder. 


1017. 


Canute (again). 


925. 


Athelstane. 


1035. 


Harold I. 


940. 


Edmund I. 


1040. 


Hardicanute. 


916. 


Ed red. 


1043. 


Edward (the Confessor). 


955. 


Edwy. 


10(56. 


Harold II. 


957. 


Edgar. 








Normans. 




1066. 


December 25, William I. 


1100. 


August 5, Henry I. 


1087. 


September 2", William II. 


1135. 


December 26, Stephen. 




Plantagenets 


(House of Anjou). 


1154. 


December 19, Henry II. 


1272. 


November 20, Edward I. 


1189. 


September 3, Kichard I. 


1307. 


July 8, Edward II. 


1199. 


May 27, John. 


13-z7. 


January 25, Edward III. 


1216. 


October 28, Henry III. 


1377. 


June 22, Richard II. 




House of Lancaster. 


1399. 


September 30, Henry IV. 


1422. 


September ], Henry VI. 


1413. 


March 21, Henry V. 








House 


of York 




1461. 


March 4, Edward IV. 


1483. 


June 26, Richard III. 


1483. 


April 9, Edward V. 








21— Ellis' England. 




1 309 j 



310 Sovereigns of England. 

House of Tudor. 

1485. August 22, Henrv VII. 1553. July 6, Marv. 

1509. April 22, Henry VIII. 1558. November 17, Elizabeth. 

1547. January 28, Edward VI. 

House of Stuart. 
1603. March 24, James I. 1625. March 26, Charles I. 

Interregnum. — The Commonwealth. 

House of Stuart (Restored). 

1660. May 29, Charles II. 1689. February 13, William III. and 

1685. February 6, James II. Mary. 

1702. March 8, Anne. 

House of Hanover. 

1714. August 1, George I. 1820. January 29, George IV. 

1727. June 11, George II. 1830. June 26, William IV. 

1760. October 26, George III. 1837. June 20, Victoria. 

1901. January 22, Edward VII. 



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NDEX. 



Acre, 95, 96 

Act of Settlement, The, 239 

Act of Six Articles, The, 176 

Act of Supremacy, The, 173 

Adams, John, President, 262 

Addison, 239 

Afghanistan, 280 

Africa, 195 

Agincourt, Battle of, 139 

Agricoln, 24, 25 

" Alabama," The, 285, 286 

Alabama Claims, The, 286 

Albert, Prince Consort, 280 

Alfred, King, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 

38, 88 
Alma, Battle of the, 281 
America, ^00, 247, 252, 253 
American Colonies, The, 253 
American Revolution, The, 253, 263 
Angles, The, 29 
Angle-land, 30 
Anne Boleyn, Queen, 173, 175, 182, 

1S3, 188 
Anne of Cleves, 176 
Anne Stuart, Queen, 233, 236, 239, 240 
Anselm, Archbishop, 60, 61 
Arkwright, Richard, 294 
Arthur, Prince, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 

110 
Ascalon, 96 
Athelstane, King, 39 
Atlantic, The, 200, 245, 254, 292. 
Atlantic Cables, 295 
Augustan Age, The, 239 
Augustine, 30 
Austria, Duke of, 100 
Aulus Plautius, 22 



Bacon, Francis, 201 

Bacon, Roger, 127, 1 >4 

Bacon, Sir Nicholas, 184 

Balaklava, Battle of, 281 

Baliol, John, 117, 118 

Baltic, The, 29 

Bannockburn, Battle of, 122, 123 

Barbadoes, The, 225 

Barebones Parliament, The, 218 

Bath, 276 

Battle of the Boyne, The, 234 

Beauchamp Tower, The, 181 

Beaumaris Castle, 117 

Becket, Thomas, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 

88 
Bedford, Duke of, 140, 141 
Berkeley Castle, 123 
Berkeley, Governor, 220 
Bible, King James' Version, 
Birmingham, 274, 276 
Blackfriars, 173 
Black Plague, The, 127 
Black Prince, The, 126, 127, 
Blake, Admiral Robert, 216 
Blenheim, Battle of, 236 
Blondel, 101. 
Board Schools, 302 
Boers, The, 288, 289 
Bonaparte, Joseph, 265 
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 264, 265, 268 
Bolingbroke, Henry, 132, 133, 134 
Bolingbroke, Lord, 243 
Boston, Mass., 25W 
Boston Tea Party, The, 260 
Boswell, James, 263 
Bosworth Field, Battle of, 160 
Boxers, The, 292 

(313) 



201 



128 



314 



Index. 



Brack enbury, Sir Robert, 156, 158 

Braddock, General, 256 

Btadsliaw, John, 214 

Brazil, 195 

Bristol, 168, 276 

British West Indies, The, 278 

Britons, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, 24, 

25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 31, 33 
, ; Brit any, 106 
[Bruce, Robert, 117, 119, 121 

Bruges, 152 

Buckingham, Dukes of, 160, 202, 204 

Bunker Hill, Battle of, 260 

Burgoyne, General, 260 

Burgundy, Duchess of, 152 

Burgundy, Duke of, 138, 139, 141 

Burleigh, Lord, 184 

Byron, Lord, 302 

Cabot, John, 192 

Cabot, Sebastian, 168, 192 

Cabul, 280 

Cade, Jack, 146 

Cadiz, 265 

Caen, , r 8 

Caernarvon Castle, 117 

Cassar, Julius, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25 

Calais, 126, 127, 139, 114, 169, 182 

Caledonians, The, 24, 25 

Cambridge, 209 

Cambridge, University of, 263, 302, 

303, 304 
Campeggio, Cardinal, 173 
Canada, 254, 258, 266 
Canterbury, 39, 86, 109 
Canterbury Cathedral, 87 
Canterbury Tales, The, 154 
Canute, King, 42, 43, 44 
Cape of Good Hope, 186, 195 
Cape Horn, 186 

Cape St. Vincent, Battle of, 265 
Caradoc, 24 
Cardigan, Lord, 281 
Caroline, Queen, 245 



Carthagena, 246 

Castle Rising, Norfolk, 124 

Caswallon, 22 

Catesby, Robert, 197, 200 

Catherine of Aragon, Queen, 168, 172, 

173, 174, 178 
Catherine of France, Queen, 139 
Catholics, The, 262, 273, 298 
Cavaliers, The, 209, 212, 218 
Cawnpore, 285 
Caxton, William, 152, 154 
Charles I., King, 201, 202, 203, 204, 

206, 208, 209, 212, 214, 219, 225, 

230 
Charles II., King, 214, 216, 223, 226, 

230, 231, 273 
Charles IV. of France, King, 126 
Charles V. of Spain, King, 182 
Charles VI. of Germany, Emperor, 

246 
Charlotte, Queen, 295 
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 154, 164 
Chevy Chase, 132 
China, 28b, 288, 292 
Civil War, American, 285 
Clarence, Dukes of, 135, 149, 150, 154, 

165 
Clavpole, Elizabeth, 218, 221 
"Clermont," The, 292 
Clyde, The, 25 

Columbus, Christopher, 168, 192 
" Comet," The, 292 
Common Schools, 301 
Commons, House of, 116, 214, 242, 246, 

262, 273, 276, 301 
Commonwealth, The, 209, 214, 218, 

224, 225 
Constitutions of Clarendon, The, 84, 

85,^ 88 
Continental Congress, The, 260 
Convention Parliament, The, 223 
Conway Castle, 117 
Copernicus, 194 
Corn Laws, The, 297, 298 
Cornwall, 30, 166 



Index. 



315 



Cornwallis, Lord, 262 

Corporation Act, The, 273 

Corunna, 266 

Covenanters, The, 230 

Coverdale, Miles, 174 

Cranmer, Archbishop, 182 

Crecy, Battle of, 127, 139 

Crimean War, The, 282 

Cromwell, Henry, 222 

Cromwell, Oliver, 209, 212, 214, 216, 

217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 225, 

239 
Cromwell, Kichard, 222 
Cromwell, Thomas, 172, 175, 176 
Crusades, The, 64, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 

97, 98, 99, 105 
Cuba, 258 

Cumberland, Duke of, 250 
Curfew, 54 



Danes, The, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39, 

40 
Danish and Saxon Sovereigns, 26, 46 
Darnley, Lord, 188, 190 
Darwin, Charles, 304, 305 
De Bourg, Hubert, 108 
Declaration of Rights, 233 
" Defender of the Faith," The, 172, 

175 
De Foe, 239 
Denmark, 29 
Derbv, 276 
Derwent, The, 48 
Dewey, Admiral George, 187 
Diana, Temple of, 30 
Dighton, John, 158 
Dinwiddie, Governor, 254 
Diocletian, Emperor, The, 26 
Disestablishment Bill, The, 299 
Disraeli, Benjamin, 300 
Dissenters, The, 273 
Domesday Book, 55 
Douglas, Earl, 132, 136 
Dover, 226 



Drake, Sir Francis, 186, 187, 195 
Druids, The, 17, 18, 19 
Dudley, Lord Guilford, 180 
Dunbar, Battle of, 214, 222 
Dunkirk, 225 
Dunstan, Archbishop, 39 



East Anglia, 30 

East Indies, The, 195 

East India Company, The, 195, 286 

Ecclesiastical Courts, 81 

Edgehill, Battle of, 210 

Edinburgh, 190, 248 

Edinburgh, University of, 304 

Edmund II., King, 42 

Edward the Confessor, King, 44, 138 

Edward the Elder, King, 38 

Edward the Martyr, King, 39 

Edward L, King, 116, 117, 118, 119, 

120 
Edward II. , King, 120, 121, 122, 123 
Edward III., King, 124, 126, 127, 128, 

133, 135, 138, 144, 148, 164 
Edward IV., King, 149, 150, 152, 154, 

155 
Edward V., King, 155 
Edward VI., King, 176, 177, 182 
Edward VII., King, 308 
Edward, Son of Henry VI., 150 
Egbert, King, 30, 31, 71 
Eleanor, Queen, 80, 102 
Eleanor of Provence, 114 
Elfrida, 39 
Elizabeth Tudor, Queen, 174, 182, 183, 

184, 185, 186, 188, 190, 192, 194, 195, 

204 
Elizabeth Woodville, Queen, 150, 156 
Elizabeth of York, Queen, 1 60, 165 
Ely Cathedral, 115 
Emma, Queen, 40, 43, 44 
Empress of India, 286 
England, Church of, 175, 184, 197, 209, 

252, 298, 299 
English Reformation, The, 175 



316 



Index. 



English Republic, The, 216 

English Settlements, The, 254 

Erie, Pa., 254 

Essex, 30 

Essex, Earls of, 192 

Ethelbald, King, 31 

Ethelbert, King, 30, 31 

Ethelred I., King, 31 

Ethelred II., King, 39, 40, 42, 43 

Ethelwulf, King, 31 

Eton, 263 

Eustnce, Count, 53 

Evesham, 116 



Fairfax, Lord Thomas, 212 

Farrar, Archdeacon, 305 

Fawkes, Guy, 198 

Feudal System, 74, 75, 79 

Field of the Cloth of Gold, 170 

Fire of London, Great, 2^6 

First Daily Taper, The, 240 

Fisher, Bishop, 175 

Flanders, 47, h2, 85, 124, 152, 236 

Flint Castle, 134 

Flodden Field, Battle of, 169 

Florida, 254, 258 

" Florida," The, 285 

Forth, The, 39 

Fotheringay Castle, 190 

Fox, Charles James, 277 

France, 62, 74, 82, 92, 118, 228, 233, 

234, 243, 247, 248, 254, 258, 260, 273, 

281, 292, 299 
Francis I. of France, King, 169 
Francis II. of France, King, 188 
Frederick B irbarossa, Emperor, 93, 

100 
French and Indian War, The, 256, 
. 259 

French Revolution, The, 264 
Friga, 30 

Frith of Forth, The, 25 
Frobisher, Sir Martin, 186 
Fulton, Robert, 292 



Gauls, The, 20 

Gaveston, Piers, 121 

Gaza, 96 

Geneva, 174 

Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, 67, 80 

Geoffrev, Son of Henry II., 88, 90, 91, 

105 
George I., King, 239, 241, 244, 245 
George II., King, 245, 246, 247, 250, 

253 
George III., King, 253, 258, 259, 260, 

262, 270 
George IV., King, 272, 273, 274 
Georgia, 245 
Germany, 100, 101, 292 
Ghent, 126 
Gibraltar, 236 

Gladstone, William E., 280, 288, 301 
Glendower, Owen, 136 
Glorious Revolution of 1688, The, 

234 
( t I < >i lopstp v fn 
Gloucester' Dukes of, 132, 140, 144, 145, 

149, 150, 154 
Godwin, Earl, 45 
Golden Age, The, 194 
Gordon, Lady Catherine, 166 
Gordon, Lord George, 263 
Grampian Hills, The, 24 
Grand Alliance, The, 236 
Grand Remonstrance, The, 208 
Grant, General U. S., 305 
Great Britain, 238, 239 
"Great Harry," The, 168 
Greece, 273 
Green, John, 156 
Grenville, Sir George, 259 
Grey, Lady Jane, 180, 181 
Grey, Sir John, 150 
Grey, Lord, 155 

"Groans of the Britons," The, 27 
Gunpowder, Invention of, 127, 164 
Gunpowder Plot, The, 197, 198, 

200 
Guthrum, King, 36 



Index. 



317 



Habeas Corpus Act, The, 231 

Hadley, Mass., 225 

Hampden, John, 202, 203, 204, 208, 210 

Hampshire, 56 

Hanover, House of, 241, 253, 272, 278, 

296 
Hardicanute, King, 44 
Harfleur, Siege of, 139 
Harlech Castle. 117 
Harold I., King, 44 
Harold II., King, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50 
Hastings, 36, 48, 50 
Hastings, Lord, 155 
Havana, Cuba, 258 
Hawkins, Sir John, 186, 195 
Hengist, 29 

Henrietta Maria, Queen, 201, 202 
Henry I., King, 55, 58, 60, 61, 62, 65, 

66, 67, C8 
Henry II., King, 70, 83, 81, 82, 83, 84, 

85, 86, 88, 90, 91 
Henry III., King, 114, 115 
Henry IV., King, 135, 136, 137, 138, 

144 
Henry V., King, 1?8, 139, 140 
Henry VI., King, 140, 141, 142, 144 

149, 150 
Henry VII., King, 161, 165, 166, 167 
Henry VIII., King, 168. 169, 170, 172, 

173, 174, 175, 176, 178, 182, 183, 188 
Henry, Son of Henry II., 88, 90, 91 
Henry, Patrick, 218 
Hessians, 260 
Highlands, The, 250 
Hindoos, 284 

Holland, 216, 228, 232, 247, 260 
Holv Land, The, 64, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 

96, 116 
Holy Sepulchre, The, 98 
Hong Kong, 288 
Hooker, Richard, 194 
Horsa, 29 

Howard, Catherine, 176 
Howard of Effingham, Lord, 186 
Hudson, The, 292 



Huguenots, The, 204 

Humber, The, 30 

"Humble Petition and Advice, The, 

218 
Hundred Years' War, The, 124, 144 
Hungary, 42 
Huntingdon, 209 



Iden, Alexander, 146 

India, 284 

Indus, The, 280 

Inkerman, Battle of, 281 

Inoculation introduced, 244 

Intemperance, Extent of, 250, 251 

Interdicts, 79, 109, 110 

Invincible Armada, The, 18^, 187, 188 

Ireland, 88, 90, 184, 210, 216, 218, 230, 

234, 239, 273, 298, 301 
Ireland, Conquest of, 88 
Ireland, Home Rule for, 301 
Ireland, Insurrection in, 206 
Ireton, General, 216, 225 
Isabella, Queen, 123, 124, 126 
Italv, 100, 243 



Jackson, General Andrew, 268 

Jacobites, The, 242, 248 

Jaff., 96 

James I., King, 190, 195, 196, 197, 200, 

201, 202, 238, 239 
James II., King, 230, 231, 232, 233, 

234, 236, 242, 248 
James IV. of Scotland, King, 166, 169 
James VI. of Scotland, King, 190, 195 
Jamestown, Va., 200 
Japan, 292 

Jefferson, Tbomas, President, 218 
Jeffreys, Judge, 232 
Jenkins, Capt., 246 
Jenner, Dr. Edward, 244 
Jerusalem, 91, 92, 96 
Jervis, Admiral John, 265 
Jesuits, The, 184 



318 



Index. 



Jewell, Bishop John, 194 

Jews, The, 94, 119, 299 

Joan of Arc, 141, 142, 144 

John, King, 88, 91, 98, 99, 102, 105, 

106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 

114 
John of France, King, 1 28 
John of Gaunt, 130, 132, 135 
Johnson, Samuel, 262 
Jonson, Ben, 194 
Jutes. The, 29 



KENiLvroRTH Castle, 123 

Kent, 30, 53, 152 

Khartoum, 290 

"King's Court," The 62, 72, 114 

"Kings of the English," The, 71 

Kitchener, Lord, 290 

Kits Coty House, 18 

Knights, 75, 76, 78 

Kruger, Paul, 289, 290 



Lancaster, House of, 135-149 161 

Lancaster, Earl of, 121, 123 

Langton, Stephen, Archbishop, 109, 110 

Latimer, Bishop, 182 

Laud, Archbishop, 206 

Leeds, 274 

Lees, The, 218 

Leicester Abbey, 172 

Leicester, Earl of, 115, 116 

Lexington, Mass., 260 

Lindsay, Earl of, 210 

Litchfield, 262 

Little Parliament, The, 218 

Liverpool and Manchester Kailwav, 

The, 294 
Loch Levin Castle, 190 
Loire, The, 126, 141 
Lollards, The, 137 
London, 30, 45, 69, 93, 110, 128, 137, 

152, 194, 196, 208, 209, 220, 226, 229, 

231, 249, 262, 263 



London Bridge, 119 

London, Great Plague of, 226 

Longchamp, 98 

Long Parliament, The, 206 

Lords, House of, 116, 206, 214, 218, 

223, 276, 301 
Lords Ordainers, 121 
Lords Protectors, 140, 145, 146, 148, 

218 
Lorenzo Marques, 290 
Louis XIV. of France, King, 226, 234, 

236 
Louis XV. of France, King, 246 
Louis XVI. of France, King, 264 
Louisburg, 248 
Lucknow, 285 
Luther, Martin, 135, 170 
Lutterworth, 135 



MACArLAY, Lord, 305 

Manchester, 274, 276 

Magellan, 192 

Magna Charta, 112, 113, 115, 203, 205 

Maine, 254 

Malplaquet, Battle of, 2"6 

Manila Bav, 187 

Mar, Earl of, 242 

Margaret of Anjou, 144, 150 

Maria Theresa, Empress, 247 

Maria Antoinette, Queen, 264 

Marlborough, Duke of, 236, 238 

Marlowe, Christopher, 194 

Marston Moor, Battle of, 212 

Marv, Queen of Scots, 188, 190 

Mary, Queen (Stuart), 233, 234 

Mary, Queen (Tudor), 174, 178, 180, 

181, 182, 183, 184 
Massachusetts, 220 
Matilda, Queen, 56 
Matilda, Empress, 67, 68, 69 
Maud, Queen, 62, 66 
" Mayflower," The, 200 . ■ 
Mediterranean, The, 114 
Mercia, 30 



Index. 



319 



Merthyr Tydvil, 292 

Methodists, The, 251, 252 

Mexico, Gulf of, 254 

"Middle English," 164 

Mile End, 130 

Milford Haven, 160 

Milton, John, 239 

Missionaries, Protestant, 220 

Mississippi, The, 258 

Mississippi Valley, The, 254 

More, Sir Thomas, 175 

Mortimer, Edmund, 135 

Mortimer, Roger, 123, 124 

Mounteagle, Lord, 198 

Murder of Prince Edward and his 

brother, 156, 158, 160 
Mussulmans, 284 



Napier, Sir Charles, 280 

Napoleon III., 303 

Naseby, Battle of, 212 

National Council, The, 71, 74, 112, 

113 
Naval Battles, 1812, 268 
Navarino, Battle of, 273 
Navigation Act, The, 216 
Nelson, Lord Horatio, 265 
Netherlands, The, 186 
Newark Castle, 114 
Newbury, Battle of, 210 
New England, 218 
New Forest, The, 56 
Newgate Prison, 264 
New Netherlands, 225 
New Orleans, La., 258 
New Orleans, Battle of, 268 
Nightingale, Florence, 282 
Nile, The, Battle of, 265 
Normandy, 44, 45, 58, 64, 65, 6Q, 67, 

69, 70, 8 8 
Normans, 29, 44, 53, 78 
Norman Sovereigns, 47 
Norsemen, 29 
North, Lord, 262 



North America, 195 

Northampton, 85 

Northmen, 29, 31 

North Seas, The, 29 

North Wales, 24 

Northumberland, Earls and Dukes of, 

133, 136, 180, 181 
Xorthumbria, 30 
Norwich, 174, 180 
Nottingham, 208, 276 
Nottingham Castle, 124 



Oates, Titus, 229 
O'Connell, Daniel, 274 
Odin, 29 
Odo, 53 

Oglethorpe, General Edward, 246, 252 
Ohio, The, 254 
Old Sarum, 276 
Opium War, The, 286, 288 
Orleans, Siege of, 141, 142 
Ormond, Duke of, 243 
Otterbnrn, Battle of, 132 
Oude, 282 

Oudenarde, Battle of, 236 
Oxford, University of, 38, 175, 262, 
263, 302 



Pakenham, Sir Edward, 268 

Palestine, 64, 92, 94, 96, 116 

Palmerston, Lord, 303, 304 

Paris, 258 

Parliament, 114, 116, 120, 124, 129, 
134, 172, 173, 176, 182, 185, 196, 
197, 198, 202, 203, 204, 206, 20^, 
209, 212, 213, 216, 217, 222, 223, 
226, 233, 238, 241, 215, 259, 260, 
262, 272, 274, 275, 278, 286, 29 K 
297, 298, 299 

Parliament, Irish, The, 273 

Parliamentary Reform, 274, 276, 277 

Parr, Catherine, 176 

Peel, Sir Robert, 298 



320 



Ind 



ex. 



Peking, 288, 292 

Pembroke, Earl of, 90, 114 

Peninsular War, The, 265, 268 

Pennsylvania, 256 

Percy, Henry, 132, 136 

Perth, 118 

Peterhead, 242 

"Peter's Pence," 47 

Peter the Hermit, 92 

Petition of Kight, The, 203 

Pevensey, 50 

Philip Augustus of France, King, 91, 

93, 98, 100, 102, 105 
Philip II. of Spain, King, 182, 183, 

186 
Philip YI. of France, King, 126 
Picts, The, 25, 27, 29, 10 
Pilgrims, The, 2<>0 
Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 245, 

257, 260, 262 
Pitt, William, the Younger, 277 
Plantagenet Sovereigns, 80-91 
Plymouth Rock, 200 
Poitiers, Battle of, 128 
Pole, Cardinal, 182 
Pontefract Castle, 134, 155 
Pope Alexander, 239 
Pope Clement III., 91 
Pope Clement VII., 172 
Pope Gregory VIII., 91 
Pope Innocent III., 109 
Presbyterians, Scotch, The, 197 
Preston Pans, Battle of, 248 
Pretender, the Old, 242, 248, 249 
Pretender, the Young, 213, 248, 250 
Pride, Colonel, 212, 223 
" Pride's Purge," 212 
Prince of Wales, First, 117 
Protestant Church, The, 181 
Protestants, Persecution of, 182 
Prussia, 247 
PunJHub, The, 2^0 
Puritans, The, 184, 197, 210, 212, 214, 

218, 220, 252 
Pym, John, 208 



Quakers, The, 220, 277 
Quebec, 258 
"Queen's Ware," 295 



Raikes, Robert, 299 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 186, 197 

Ramillies, Battle of, 136 

Randolphs, The, 218 

Reformation, The, 170 

Reform Bills, 299, 300, 301 

Restoration, The, 223 

Rheims, 142 

Richard I., King, 88, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95, 

96, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 

104 
Richard II., King, 128, 129, 130, 131, 

132, 133, 134, 135 
Richard III., King, lo6, 1C0, 161, 

165 
Richard, Duke of Normandy, 40, 43 
Richmond, Earl of, 160, 161 
Ridley, Bishop, 182 
Right of Search, 266 
Rivers, Earl, 155 
Rizzio, David, 188 
Robert, Duke of Normandv, 55, 56, 62, 

64, 65, 66 
Roberts, Lord, 290 
Rochester, 83 
Rochester Castle, 83 
"Rocket," The, 294 
Roman Catholic Church, The, 175, 182, 

184, 185, 195, 298 
Romans, The, 20, 21, 22, 21, 25, 

26 
Roman Invasion of Britain, 20, 21 
Rome, 27, 31, 90 
Rotten Boroughs, 276, 277 
Rouen, 56, 57, 108, 141 
Roundheads, The, 210 
Runnymede, 112 
Rupert, Prince, 210, 212, 225 
Russia, 273, 280, 281, 2 99 
Rve House Plot, The, 231 



Index. 



321 



Saladtn, Sultan, 92, 95, 96, 97, 98, 

99, 104 
Salisbury Cathedral, 115 
Saracens, The, 1 16 
Savoy Palace, 130 
Sawtrev, William, 137 
Saxons, The, 2S, 20, 30, 78 
Saxon Heptarchy, The, 30 
Scinde, 280 
Scone, Abbev of.. 118 
Scotland, 25, 53, 116, 117, 118, 119, 

1-1, 122, 123, 124, 126, 148, 149, 

184, 188, 196, 210, 214, 218, 238, 

239, 2--,0 
Scots, The, 2"), 27, 29*30 
Scott, Walter, 302, 303 
Sebastopol, 28 1 
Sebert, King, 30 
Seine, The, 109, 139 
Selwood Forest, 36 
" Semi-Saxon," 164 
Senlac, - r >0 

Sepoy Mutiny, The, 284, 286 
Serverns, Emperor, 25 
Serverus, Wall of, 25, 27 
Seymour, Jane, 176 
Shakespeare, William, 194 
Sheffield, 274 
"Shenandoah," The, 285 
Shield Money, 81 
Shrewsbury, Battle of, 136 
Sidney-Sussex College, 209 
Sikhs,* 280 

Simnel, Lambert, 165, 166 
Slave Trade, The, 277, 278 
Sraithfield, 130, 137, 182 
Solway, The, 25 

Somerset, Dukes of, 146, 148, 177, 180 
South America, 107 
Southern Confederacy, The, 285 
Spain, 168, 243, 246, 258, 260, 265, 305 
Spenser, Edmund, 194 
Spurs, Battle of the, 168 
Stamford Bridge, 48 
Stamp Act, The, 259 



Star Chamber, The, 20 1 

Stephen, King, 68, 69, 70, 79, 80 

Srephenson, George, 294 

Stonehenge, 17 

Stone of Destiny, 118 

Strafford, Earl of, 206 

Stuart, House of, 195-208, 224-240 

Stuart. Lady Arabella, 197 

St. Alban, 26 

St. Albans, Battle of, 148 

St. Andrew, 238 

St. Brice, Festival of, 40 

St. George, 78, 238 

St. Helena, Island of, 270 

St. Michael, 78 

St. Patrick, 88, 239 

St. Paul, 26 

St. Paul's, Cathedral of, 30 

St. Peter, 47 

St. Stephen's Church, 58 

Suffolk, Duke of, 146 

Surrey, Earl of, 166, 169 

Sussex, 30 

Sussex, Earl of, 210 

Sweden, 42 

Sweyn, King, 40, 42 

Swinestead Abbev, 114 

Sydney, Sir Philip, 194 



Taunton, 166 

Telegraph, Introduction of the, 295 

Test Act, The, 273 

Tewkesbury, Battle of, 150 

Thames, The, 70, 112, 202, 226 

Thor, 29 

Tories, The, 230, 231 

Tower Hill, 119 

Tower of London, The, 149, 150, 156, 

158, 160, R'5, 166, 175, 177, 181, 182, 

190, 206, 232 
Teuton, Battle of, 149, 162 
Toulouse, 81 
Trafalgar, Battle of, 265 
, Transvaal Republic, The, 288, 289, 290 



322 



Index. 



Treaty of Aix la Chapelle, The, 247 
Treaty of Ryswick, The, 234 
Treaty of Troyes, 141 
Trent, The, 114 
Trial by Battle, 72 
Trial by Ordeal, 72 
Tudor, House of, 165-195 
Turkev, 244, 273, 280, 281 
Tvndale, 174 
Tyne, The, 25 
Tyrrel, Sir John, 156 
Tyrrel, Sir Walter, 61 

"Uttlanders" The, 289 

Union Jack, The, 238 

United Kingdom, The, 273 

United States, The, 2tf 0,266, 292, 295,305 

United States, Independence of, 262 



Vaal River Colony, The, 290 

Vane, Sir Henry, 210 

Venice, 168 

Venice, Gulf of, 100 

Victoria, Queen, 270, 278, 279, 280 

Vienna, 100 

Vimeira, 266 

Virginia, 186, 209, 218, 220 

Vonigern, 28 



Wakefield, 148 

W r ales, 30, 116, 117, 134 

Wallace, Sir William, 119 

Wallachia, 280 

Wallingford, 70 

Walpole, Horace, 263 

Walpole, Sir Robert, 241, 244, 245, 

246, 257 
Walsingham, Sir Francis, 184 
Walworth, Mayor, 331 
War beck, Perkin, 166 
War of the Austrian Succession, 247, 248 
War of the Roses, 146, 147, 149, 162 
War of the Spanish Succession, 234, 236 



War of 1812, 266 

Warwick, Earls of, 149, 150, 165, 166 

Washington, George, 218, 254, 256, 262 

Washington, John, 218 

Waterloo, Battle of, 268 

Wat Tyler, 129, 130, 131 

Watt, James, 294 

Wedgewood, Josiah, 294 

Wellington, Duke of, 265, 266, 268 

Wesley, Charles, 25!, 252, 253 

Wesley, John, 251, 252, 253 

Wessex, 30 

Western Isles, The, 250 

Westminster, 72, 121 

Westminster Abbey, 45, 46, 50, 62, 118, 

140, 152, 175, 176, 263, 304, 305 
Westminster Hall, 115, 134, 225 
Westminster Palace, 204 
Westmoreland, P^arl of, 133 
Whigs, The, ^30, 231,241 
" Wliip with Six Strings," The. 176 
Whitehall, 202 
Wickliffe, John, 135, 164 
Wilberforce, William, 277 
William I., King, 44, 45, 47, 48, 50, 

52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57,58, 81 
AVilliam II., King, 55, 58, 59, 60, 61 
William III., King, 228, '232, 233, 234, 

236 
William IV., King, 274, 275, 278 
William, Son of Edward L, 119 
William, Son of Henry I., 66 
Williamsburg, Va., 254 
Winchester, 45, 69, 70, 72, 93, 102 
Winchester Cathedral, 61 
Witan, Great Council of, 44, 45, 62 
Wolfe, General, 258 
W r olsey, Cardinal, 168, 172, 173, 174 
Worcester, Battle of, 216, 222, 224 
Worcester, Earl of, 136 

York, 48, 148, 212 
York, Dukes of, 133, 146, 148 
York, House of, 146, 149-164 
Yorktown, Va., 262 



ylLTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED 

YOUNG PEOPLES 
HISTORIES jg? m ® 

By Edw&rd S. Ellis, A. M. 



These volumes are written with all the fascinating skill, 
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They contain no superfluous words, neither are they 
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jiLTEfAUS' illustrated 

YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY 
OF THE UNITED STATES 

By Edward S. Ellis, A. M. 

It is appropriate that the initial work of this series should 
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At present France appears to be a republic ; she 
has been an aristocracy, a monarchy, an absolute 
despotism, and a commune. She has been ruled by 
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who were less worthy to rule than savages. Her 
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and painters have never been surpassed. 

No nation has been more humiliated than France; 
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then leaped to heights that have caused the world 
to wonder. 

France is a wonderful nation, and her history is 
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In tracing back the development of the present civilized 
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We know very little of their early history, yet, by digging 
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